Hrithik Roshan Shares Personal Experience with Crutches; Reflects on the Concept of True Resilience |

Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan took to Instagram to share a reflective note along with a mirror selfie showing him on crutches. The actor opened up about societal expectations around strength and discussed the need to redefine the concept of true resilience.
The ‘Fighter’ actor’s note read, “Good afternoon. How many of you out there ever needed to be on crutches or a wheelchair n 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, its just an injury and nothing to do with how old you are! It will help heal the injury n not damage it further!” It made me so sad to see how strong he needed to be just to hide the fear n embarrassment on the inside. I couldn’t make sense of it. Made me feel helpless. I argued that the age factor is not applicable cause he needs the wheelchair for an injury and not his old age. He refused n kept the strong image on display for strangers (who literally didn’t care). It worsened his pain and delayed the healing.”His note further read, “There definitely is merit in that kind of conditioning, its a virtue. It’s the mentality of a soldier. My dad comes from the same conditioning. MEN are strong. But if you say soldiers never need crutches And even when they medically do, they must refuse, just to keep the illusion of strength intact, Then I just think that the virtue has been stretched so far that it borders on plain stupidity.”
The actor acknowledged the virtue of being strong in the face of adversity, comparing it to the image of Rambo with a machine gun. However, he emphasised the importance of inner strength, especially during the silent struggles individuals face against societal expectations and self-perceived images.
Hrithik explained that the quiet fight within oneself, without any external adversary, is the more coveted form of strength. He encouraged embracing vulnerability and accepting aids like crutches without letting them alter the internal image of resilience. According to him, true heroism is emerging from such internal battles and feeling empowered enough to do a slow dance alone.
He ended the note by saying, “Anyways, I pulled a muscle yesterday and woke up wanting to reach out about this notion of strength. This is of course a bigger conversation, the crutches is just a metaphor. If you get it, you get it.”