Hrithik Roshan Talks About Stammering, Reveals he Couldn’t Even Say The Word ‘Dubai’ Once

Actor Hrithik Roshan might have become an overnight star with the release of his debut film Kaho Na… Pyar Hai (2000) but back at home, he had a different struggle to address. Hrithik has been working hard on himself to overcome stammering since the very beginning of his career. In his latest interview with a daily, he says he still continues to do so. The actor, as reported by Mumbai Mirror, has been approached to be the brand ambassador of the Indian Stammering Association (ISA).

In an interview with the daily, he opened about having a speech problem and how unfair it is to trivialise something as grave as stammering without realising that it can ruin someone’s confidence for life. Hrithik said, “Stammering is an underrated challenge because its gravity isn’t discussed much. It is grave because it is related to your confidence as a human being.” Hrithik also revealed how he kept practising his speech even long after he became a celebrated movie star.

He explained, “I’d practise every day to overcome the speech issue, I still do for an hour at least so that I can control the secondary actions like twitching and all. The unacceptability to stammering was not only bothersome in my childhood but prevailed till 2012, long after I had become a film star.”

In his hour-long meeting with the nine members of ISA on March 15, Hrithik mentioned an incident from the past in which he was facing difficulty even in saying the word ‘Dubai.’ He revealed that he had to go to Dubai for an award show but he couldn’t say the word ‘Dubai’. So, he practised his acceptance speech many times just to perfect that one word in his speech. Later, he went up the stage and delivered his speech without any glitch.

Hrithik also opened up on the difficulty in accepting himself. He said that’s the biggest challenge people with speech issues face. He said, “I have now accepted myself as a slow speaker. I have to go through the sentences for a fraction of a second in my mind before saying them aloud. For a long period, it was a struggle for me to accept this, but now I am fine with it.”