Don't let anger, helplessness burn the hero inside you: Hrithik’s note to Aryan

Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan is the latest celebrity to have expressed his solidarity with colleague Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan, who is currently in the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) following his arrest on Monday. In a poignant letter posted on his Instagram handle on Thursday, Hrithik tells Aryan to soldier on and “own everything you experience.”

“I’ve known you as a kid and I’ve known you as a man. Own it. Own everything you experience. They are your gifts. Trust me. In time when you connect the dots…I promise you, it’s gonna make sense,” reads the note accompanied by a photo of Aryan.

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In his note, Hrithik tells Aryan not to allow the feelings of anger, confusion and helpless “burn the hero out from inside you” as the “same ingredients could burn away the good stuff…the kindness, compassion, the love”. He tells him instead to keep his calm and just “observe”.

“Only if you have stared the devil in his eyes and kept your calm. Keep calm. Observe. These moments are the makers of your Tom. And Tom is going to have a brilliant sun shining. But for it, you must go thru the dark. Calm, still, owning your own. And trusting the light. Within. It’s always there,” he writes, signing off with a “Love you man”.

Hrithik worked with Shah Rukh Khan in the 2001 multi-starrer Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

The Khan family has received an overwhelming amount support from fans and well-wishers since Aryan’s arrest on October 4. While Shah Rukh’s foe-turned-friend Salman Khan immediately drove to his residence Mannat hours after the arrest, Hrithik’s ex-wife Sussanne Khan in an Instagram post condemned the “witch-hunt” against a “good kid” who was at the “wrong place at the wrong time”.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in a tweet said he was repelled by the “ghoulish epicaricacy displayed by those now witch-hunting Shah Rukh Khan” and said the least people could do is to express empathy for the family at such a trying time.

Others who extended support to Shah Rukh and his wife Gauri on social media are actors Neelam Kothari, Suniel Shetty and Suchitra Krishnamoorthi; directors Pooja Bhat and Hansal Mehta and singer Mika Singh.

“I stand in solidarity with you @iamsrk Not that you need it. But I do. This too, shall pass (sic),” Bhatt tweeted.

“It is painful for a parent having to deal with a child getting into trouble. It gets compounded when people begin to arrive at judgements before the law takes its course. It is disrespectful and unfair to the parent and to the parent-child relationship. With you @iamsrk (sic),” Mehta said in a tweet.

Reports said Shah Rukh also received calls and messages from close friends and colleagues including actors Kajol, Rani Mukerji, Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma, as directors Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar and Rohit Shetty.

The NCB on October 4 conducted raids and arrested eight people including Aryan during a rave party aboard Goa-bound cruise ship Cordelia, off the Mumbai coast. The NCB said a stash of drugs including 13 grams of cocaine, 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA and5 grams of MD were seized during the raids.

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The same day, a Mumbai court denied bail to Aryan and remanded him to custody till Thursday. Even though Aryan’s counsel argued that no drugs was found in his possession, the NCB has told the court that “shocking and incriminating” material has been recovered from WhatsApp chats between Aryan and two other accused Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha.

The NCB on Thursday requested the court to extend Aryan’s custody till October 11.