Hrithik Roshan Pens A Note On Strength, Posts Selfie In Crutches

The fact that Hrithik is willing to share a raw and real picture of himself recovering from an injury is proof that he looks at strength, masculinity and healing differently.

It takes a great amount of mental strength, not just physical, when dealing with an injury, especially for someone who is in the limelight. Actors injure themselves all the time while shooting for films, or while working out. Hrithik Roshan has had his fair share of injuries and hospital visits. After celebrating the success of his recently-released action-packed film 'Fighter', the actor took to Instagram to reveal he had been injured once again. Posting a mirror selfie of himself with crutches, Hrithik wrote that it was because of a muscle pull. The rest of the post was a stoic take on what he believes is "true strength".

"Good afternoon," Hrithik began his post. "How many of you ever needed to be on crutches or a wheelchair and how did that make you feel?" The actor went on to write that he remembers the time his grandfather injured himself and refused to sit on a wheelchair at the airport. "...because it wouldn't align with his own mental image of himself [being] 'strong'. I remember saying, 'But Deda, it is just an injury and nothing to do with how old you are! It will help heal the injury and not damage it further'."

The 50-year-old recalled that the incident made him sad. "It made me so sad to see how strong he needed to be just to hide the fear and embarrassment. I couldn't make sense of it. [It] made me feel helpless. I argued that...he needs the wheelchair for an injury and not his old age. He refused and kept [a] strong image on display for strangers, who didn't care. It worsened his pain and delayed the healing."

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The actor admitted that there is "merit in that kind of conditioning" and that his father -- actor, filmmaker Rakesh Roshan -- comes from the same conditioning that believes that men are 'strong'.

But, Hrithik challenges it. The fact that he is willing to share a raw and real picture of himself recovering from an injury is proof that he looks at strength, masculinity and healing differently. "I believe true strength is being relaxed, composed and fully aware that nothing -- not crutches, [or a] wheelchair, or any inability or vulnerability, and certainly not any sitting position -- can lessen or alter the image of that giant that you are on the inside."

He added that strength is "not always being 'Rambo' against all odds with a machine gun". "The more coveted one is strength when there is no one to fight on the outside. It's that quiet fight on the inside between you and the 'image' of you. If you come out of that feeling like [you want] to do a slow dance by yourself, then you're my hero."

Hrithik concluded his post by sharing with his followers that he pulled a muscle, and woke up "wanting to reach out about this notion of strength". "This is, of course, a bigger conversation; the crutches are just a metaphor."

The National Institutes of Health explains that crutches are medical devices designed to "aid in ambulation, by transferring body weight from the legs to the torso and arms". They are mainly used to assist individuals with "lower extremity injuries and/or neurological impairment". In Hrithik's case, he used it to support his body after pulling a muscle. A pulled muscle is basically like a strain; it happens when a certain muscle is stretched too much and a part of it tears. It can be extremely painful, caused by either an accident, or by overusing a muscle, or using it in the wrong way.

While the actor did not mention exactly how he ended up in crutches, we wish him a speedy recovery!