Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel's debut Bollywood film Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai completed 25 years of its release on January 14 and on the special occasion, the film was re-released in theatres, receiving a overwhelming response from the audience. The film's director Rakesh Roshan opened up about his son Hrithik's stardom after the film's release in 2000. He also recalled being attacked by underworld goons after he refused their film offer for Hrithik.

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Rakesh Roshan stated that he became a target of underworld after Hrithik's overnight stardom. For those unversed, the filmmaker was shot in broad daylight outside his Mumbai office.

According to media reports, despite being shot twice, Rakesh managed to drive himself to the hospital and he survived the ordeal. The attack was reportedly tied to the underworld, which wielded influence over the film industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Recalling his near-fatal attack in Mumbai, Rakesh told the news portal, "I never gave any indication that Hrithik could do a film for them. I kept putting them off, saying Hrithik had no dates, which, in any case, was the truth. They then asked me to take dates away from other producers and give them to them. This again, I refused to do."

"Once I had committed my son’s dates elsewhere, I refused to give in to arm-twisting tactics. With the kind of tension and fear that some of us had to bear, we couldn’t do anything creative, let alone make a film," the filmmaker added.

Rakesh was attacked just a week after Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai hit the big screens. The incident left has negatively impacted Hrithik, who revealed in an earlier interview with Simi Garewal that he contemplated quitting the film industry. He said he felt directly or indirectly responsible for his father’s shooting, as it stemmed from his rising stardom.