Krrish 3 is a 2013 Indian superhero action thriller film written, produced and directed by Rakesh Roshan, who wrote the screenplay with Honey Irani and Robin Bhatt. It is the third film in the Krrish series, following Koi... Mil Gaya (2003) and Krrish (2006). The film stars Hrithik Roshan, Vivek Oberoi, Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut. In the film, Krishna Mehra, also known as Krrish, with his wife, Priya Mehra, and his scientist father, Rohit Mehra, face an elaborate conspiracy orchestrated by the mad scientist Kaal and his gang of mutants, led by the ruthless Kaya.
Krrish 3 was initially scheduled to release as a 3D film. However, due to lack of release time to convert the film to 3D, it was released only in the 2D format. Krrish 3 was released worldwide on 1 November 2013. Produced on a budget of , the film grossed worldwide. It has received generally positive reviews from critics and is currently the highest-grossing Indian superhero film. Krrish 3 has consistently maintained a position among the top 50 highest-grossing Indian films for over a decade, since its release in 2013.
Plot Six years after getting rescued and returning to India with his son Krishna after eliminating Dr. Siddhant Arya, Dr. Rohit Mehra now lives with the former in Mumbai while the latter's mother, Sonia Mehra, has passed away in this time period. Krishna is married to Priya, who now works as a reporter for Aaj Tak after resigning from her previous job in Singapore, and Rohit works in a research institute. Krishna, while moonlighting as superhero Krrish, is regularly fired from various day jobs due to lack of attendance. Meanwhile, Rohit is researching a device that will bring dead tissues to life using solar energy (after realizing how Jadoo gave him powers derived from sunlight), but the experiment needs a filter that could pass only the amount of sunlight needed.
A deadly virus is spreading in Namibia whose antidote has not yet been discovered. Rohit's friend Dr. Varun Shetty and Dr. Alok Sen, a scientist who wants to reveal information about the virus, are murdered by Kaya, a shapeshifting female mutant. She is the secretary of Kaal, a handicapped evil geneticist with telekinetic powers. Kaal creates a team of human-animal hybrids called Maanvars (a portmanteau of two Hindi words, "Maanav" meaning human and "Jaanvar" meaning animal) with distinct physical powers to cure himself, but to no avail. The virus was spread by Kaal himself to incur huge profits by selling its antidote. On Krishna's birthday, Priya gives the good news of her pregnancy to Krishna and Rohit. Kaal sends his mutants to India to infect the population. Rohit discovers that the virus, now spreading through Mumbai, has no effect on Krishna, Priya, or himself. He decides to test it on Krishna. Rohit makes an antidote with Krishna's blood, which Krishna spreads over the whole city. Kaal sends his mutants to attack Rohit. Krrish saves Rohit, but Priya is injured. Carrying out Kaal's instructions, Kaya shapeshifts into Priya while Priya is kidnapped by Kaal. Posing as Priya, Kaya leads Krishna to believe that Priya miscarried in the attack. While discovering the truth behind the antidote, she starts loving Krishna one-sidedly and often feels guilty for cheating him.
Meanwhile, Kaal plans to have Priya have an early childbirth so that he could use the child's bone marrow to cure his disability. Kaya, disguised as Krishna, goes to Rohit's home lab, where Rohit reveals that he will travel to Singapore to meet Dr. Mathur, who used to work with Dr. Arya. Rohit hopes this meeting will help solve the mystery behind the virus. At the same time, Krishna walks to the lab to meet Rohit. Kaya, still disguised as Krishna, then transforms into Priya and lies to the real Krishna, saying Rohit is busy with his research work and shouldn't be disturbed. The next day, Rohit calls Krishna and tells him that he had sought every answer from Dr. Mathur. Krishna, unaware of all this, realizes that something is wrong and finds out that Priya has been kidnapped. He transforms into Krrish and confronts Kaya. Kaya finally agrees to help and leads him to Kaal’s secret lab, where Priya is rescued. It is revealed that Kaal is Rohit's biological son, created by an experiment conducted by Dr. Arya while Rohit was held hostage by him years earlier. He was born inheriting Rohit's powers but handicapped except for his face and index fingers. He gets adopted by a wealthy man whom he then kills.
Kaal uses Rohit's bone marrow to cure his disability. Kaya saves Priya but is murdered by Kaal for her disloyalty. Kaal also severely injures Krrish. Rohit reuses his failed dead tissues experiment to save Krishna. However, the beam of light created by the experiment needs a filter to take effect on Krishna. Rohit stands in front of it, allowing only a portion of it to make contact with Krishna. This resurrects Krishna, killing Rohit in the process. Kaal has returned to Mumbai to threaten its citizens should Priya not be found and taken to him. Priya voluntarily surrenders herself, but Krrish then arrives, and a fight between Krrish and Kaal ensues. With the two now capable of flight and super strength, Krrish and Kaal's fighting destroys many buildings across Mumbai, while Krrish is emotionally weakened due to the number of people dying around them. Finally, Krrish manages to kill Kaal using Rohit's solar experiment pen by focusing the unfiltered rays onto him. Six months later, in the aftermath, Krishna and Priya name their newborn son Rohit Mehra. The baby also seems to exhibit superpowers.
Cast
Hrithik Roshan in dual role as Rohit Mehra, Krishna's father; Kaal's biological father; Priya's father-in-law and Jr. Rohit's grandfather Krishna Mehra / Krrish, Dr. Rohit's son; Kaal's biological brother; Priya's husband and Jr. Rohit's father Vivek Oberoi as Kaal, a handicapped evil scientist; Rohit's scientifically created son by Dr. Arya and Krishna's biological brother Rohan Shah as young Kaal Priyanka Chopra as Priya Mehra, Krishna's wife; Rohit's daughter-in-law and Jr. Rohit's mother Kangana Ranaut as Kaya, Kaal's most trusted henchwoman and Krishna's one-sided lover Arif Zakaria as Dr. Varun Shetty, Rohit's scientist friend Asif Basra as Dr. Alok Sen, a scientist working at Kaal Pharmaceuticals Rajpal Yadav as Kripal Sharma, Krishna's friend and colleague Rakhi Vijan as Kripal's wife Gowhar Khan as Striker the Frogman Nazia Shaikh as Cheetah Woman Sameer Ali Khan as Ant Man Shaurya Chauhan as Scorpion Woman Danniel Kaleb as Rhino Man Vineet Sharma as Pilot of Air India aircraft Sachin Khedekar as Chief minister of Maharashtra (Special appearance) Naseeruddin Shah as Dr. Siddhant Arya (Special appearance) Mohnish Behl as Kaal's adoptive father (Special appearance) Raju Kher as a scientist in Kaal's lab Rekha and Preity Zinta appear as Sonia Mehra and Nisha Mehra in flashback scenes from the archived footage of Koi... Mil Gaya and Krrish Suranika Soni as Suranika (an uncredited appearance): The girl asking Rohit about Krrish in their felicitation ceremony
Production
The film was referred to as both Krrish 2 and Krrish 3 in media reports. Hrithik Roshan confirmed in an interview to Rediff.com that on similar lines as with the Rambo franchise (where the first film was named First Blood, then came Rambo and then Rambo 3), the film will be called Krrish 3. Rakesh Roshan also clarified the title to Bollywood Hungama. In an interview director Rakesh Roshan said "I can't reveal the budget of the movie, but it has been a very costly film". The film was reportedly produced on a budget of (). Red Chillies VFX, a subdivision of Shah Rukh Khan's motion picture production banner Red Chillies Entertainment, worked on the special effects worth for Krrish 3. The filming process was completed in June 2012, and then the VFX team started their work.
Filming
Principal photography began on 1 December 2011 with Vivek Oberoi, Kangana Ranaut and Priyanka Chopra. However, Hrithik Roshan did not participate in the first schedule due to a back injury. The primary location of filming was Filmistan Studios at Mumbai. Actress Shaurya Chauhan had an accident while shooting for the film in Hyderabad, due to which the film had to face some delays. On 29 August 2012, it was reported that, the makers had decided the superhero to indulge in the action sequences in snowy terrains. So, some part of the film was shot in Alps, Switzerland. Filming also took place in Jordan where a song featuring Roshan and Ranaut was shot. Rakesh Roshan stated in an interview that the shooting of Krrish 3 was completed by June 2012 with the VFX took one and half years to complete with the last of them coming on 22 October 2013, just 10 days before the release of the film with every VFX action sequence undergoing a revision of 40 to 50 times before inclusion.
Casting
Following the success of the previous instalments, director Rakesh Roshan planned to develop a second sequel to the franchise, with Hrithik Roshan playing the protagonist again. He had penned the script, but had to re-work it as the storyline was too similar to the Hollywood blockbuster Spider-Man 3. Priyanka Chopra was later confirmed to reprise the role of Priya. In this film, she will be seen married to Krishna Mehra.
Next, Chitrangada Singh announced her inclusion in the project as a mutant but left the film due to unspecified reasons. Later on, Jacqueline Fernandez was signed, but she later on, backed out of the film due to a lack of dates. It was reported that actresses Nargis Fakhri, Esha Gupta and Bipasha Basu were to replace Fernandez. Finally, Kangana Ranaut was confirmed to play the role, who coincidentally was originally offered the role. Rakesh Roshan had earlier revealed to the media that the main antagonist of the film would be as powerful as the hero. After talks with Ajay Devgn and Shah Rukh Khan fell through, Vivek Oberoi was eventually cast for the role. In an interview with Bollywood News Service, Oberoi said, "Kaal is contrary to my nature. I am very friendly, and Kaal isn't," and added, "He has anger and vengeance burning within him; he hates humanity. To express these emotions through my eyes was difficult."
In January 2011, Lakshmi Manchu claimed to have been offered a role in the film as the antagonist's girlfriend. Its overseas distribution rights were sold to Eros International while Rakesh Roshan retained rights in Mumbai. There was also initial speculation that Rekha would play a major role in the film, which was later denied as a rumour.
Design and costumes
For the cast's costumes, Rakesh Roshan was involved with designer Gavin Miguel. Roshan wanted a light and flexible costume to allow Kangana Ranaut to do her stunts without any restrictions, where he stated: "She has a lot of toughness in her personality. So instead of looking at feminine superheroes for reference, I looked at Batman". It took three and half hours to apply Ranaut's makeup every day. Oberoi is dressed in a metal suit weighing around 28 kilograms, which required about 2–3 hours and 7-8 workers to fix on the body.
Music
The songs of the film are being composed by Rajesh Roshan at Krishna Audio, whilst the background score is being composed by Salim–Sulaiman. The music rights of the film were acquired by T-Series for . The full soundtrack album was released on 19 September 2013 with music composed by Rakesh Roshan.
Marketing