Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan, who was recently seen in the action film Fighter, shared a picture of himself on his social media in which he can be seen standing with the crutches and with a brace.
On Wednesday, the actor took to his Instagram and shared a mirror selfie and penned a long note along with the picture. The actor recollected the incident when his grand-father was injured and he refused to sit on a wheelchair.
He wrote in the caption, “Good afternoon. How many of you out there ever needed to be on crutches or a wheelchair and how did that make you feel? I remember my grandfather refusing to sit on a wheelchair at the airport because it wouldn’t align with his own mental image of himself as 'strong'. I remember saying 'But Deda, it's just an injury and nothing to do with how old you are!' It will help heal the injury and not damage it further. It made me so sad to see how strong he needed to be just to hide the fear and embarrassment on the inside.”
The actor shared that he couldn’t make sense of what his grand-father said back then, and that it made him feel helpless. He continued. “I argued that the age factor is not applicable because he needs the wheelchair for an injury and not his old age. He refused and kept the strong image on display for strangers (who literally didn’t care). It worsened his pain and delayed the healing. There definitely is merit in that kind of conditioning, it's a virtue. It’s the mentality of a soldier. My dad comes from the same conditioning. MEN are strong.”
He further mentioned, “But if you say soldiers never need crutches And even when they medically do, they must refuse, just for the sake of keeping the illusion of strength intact, Then I just think that the virtue has been stretched so far that it borders on plain stupidity. I believe true strength is being relaxed , composed and fully aware that nothing, not crutches, not a wheelchair, not any inability or vulnerability - and certainly not any sitting position can lessen or alter the image of that GIANT that you are on the inside. Strength is not always being Rambo against all odds with a machine gun saying “f*** em!” That’s applicable for sure. Sometimes.”
“And it’s the kind we all aspire for. Even me. But the more coveted one is strength when there is no one to fight on the outside. It’s that quiet fight on the inside between you and the “image” of you. If you come out of that one feeling like wanting to do a slow dance by yourself , then you’re my hero. Anyways, I pulled a muscle yesterday and woke up wanting to reach out about this notion of strength. This is ofcourse a bigger conversation , the crutches are just a metaphor. If you get it, you get it,” he added.