Hrithik Roshan’s Rs 25 billion fortune: From sleeping on mats to stardom
The actor ranks fourth among Indian actors on the 2026 list, behind Shah Rukh and Amitabh
Dubai: Hrithik Roshan is now among India’s wealthiest actors, with an estimated wealth of Rs 25 billion (Rs 2,500 crore) according to the Hurun India Rich List 2026. But his family’s financial story was very different when he was growing up.
The actor ranks fourth among Indian actors on the 2026 list, behind Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan. Hurun’s estimate also reflects Hrithik’s business interests, including his HRX brand.
The figure has drawn renewed attention to Hrithik’s journey, particularly his accounts of the financial difficulties faced by his father, filmmaker Rakesh Roshan.
‘He had lost all his money’
In an old interview with Zee ETC Bollywood, Hrithik recalled seeing his father struggle after the 1997 film Koyla, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit.
Hrithik said there was a period when Rakesh had lost the money he had earned and that he saw his father in tears.
The financial difficulties were also reflected in the family’s living arrangements. In a 2006 interview with Simi Garewal, Hrithik said there was a time when his father could not afford the family’s rent.
His mother, Pinky Roshan, took Hrithik and his sister to her parents’ home while Rakesh stayed with his mother. The family later moved into a house with little more than walls and floors. Hrithik recalled that they initially slept on mats and gradually added furniture.
Rakesh Roshan mortgaged assets to make his son’s debut
The biggest financial gamble came when Rakesh decided to launch Hrithik as a leading actor in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai.
The 2000 film went over budget by about Rs 30 million (Rs 3 crore), according to earlier reports, and Rakesh has said he mortgaged his house and cars to fund the project.
Hrithik later recalled discovering how much his family had risked only after the film was nearing completion. He said his mother told him that the house and cars had been mortgaged.
“If the film had not done well,” Rakesh said in an earlier interview, he would have had to move elsewhere, but he decided to take the chance.
From debut to business empire
Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, released in 2000, became a major success and established Hrithik as one of Bollywood’s leading stars.
More than two decades later, his reported Rs 25 billion (Rs 2,500 crore) wealth places him among India’s richest actors, according to the 2026 Hurun list. His wealth estimate includes business interests beyond his film earnings.
The contrast between the family’s earlier financial struggles and Hrithik’s current reported wealth has drawn renewed attention following the release of the latest Hurun India Rich List.
