The Untold Story of Hrithik Roshan's Grandfather, Who Went from Homelessness on a Railway Platform to Bollywood Legend

Life's most powerful stories often begin with most unexpected turns. This is the story of one such turn in the life of Roshan Lal Nagrath, actor Hrithik Roshan's grandfather. Discovered by film director Kidar Nath Sharma, Roshan went on to become one of the most respected and well-known music composers of his time. His journey in the film industry began at a railway station, and today his grandson Hrithik has a net worth of ₹3,100 crore.In an old interview with Prasar Bharati, Sharma spoke about meeting Roshan at a railway station with his two wives. He said, "He was there in the morning, and when I was returning home in the evening, he was still there. I asked him who he was, and in return he asked me who I was. I said, 'Don't be upset. This isn't

a junction, and I saw you sitting here in the morning and you are still here now. I thought you might be in need, and that I could be of some help. My name is Kidar Sharma.' He said, 'Pranam, my name is Roshan. I used to make music for AIR, but I had a love marriage and they fired me. Now I have no work, and I have no place to stay.'"This chance meeting would change the destiny of Roshan, who was born in 1917 in Gujranwala in the Punjab Province, now in Pakistan. He was naturally gifted in music and trained under the legendary sarod maestro Ustad Allauddin Khan in Lucknow. His musical career began in the 1940s when he joined All India Radio, where he met a talented Bengali singer, Ira Moitra. They married and had two sons, Rakesh Roshan and Rajesh Roshan. She was Hrithik’s grandmother.Sharma, who had met him at the railway station, decided to help Roshan and give him a chance as a music composer. Roshan’s initial compositions were a disaster, particularly when he was asked to compose the soundtrack for Neki Aur Badi (1949). He had the training that AIR provided, but he lacked what commercial cinema required. An anecdote about his life was discussed in the Netflix documentary series The Roshans, and had also been recalled by Sharma. A pair of distributors even arrived with a brand-new Buick and one lakh rupees if Roshan were kept out of the project. A devastated Roshan urged Sharma to take the money, but he refused. He continued to believe in Roshan and closely supervised his work for Bawre Nain (1950), starring Geeta Bali and Raj Kapoor. The film went on to become a blockbuster and was praised for Sharma's "exceptionally worded lyrics" and Roshan’s music, with songs such as "Khayalon Mein Kisi Ke". It marked the beginning of Roshan's rise as a music composer.