Abhishek my real life Veeru: Big B

He had a perfect reel Veeru in Dharmendra in "Sholay" forty years ago. But in real life, megastar Amitabh Bachchan -- who played Jai of the Jai-Veeru duo in the iconic film -- says he shares that special camaraderie with his son Abhishek.

In an email interview with IANS, when the Big B was asked "Who's your Veeru in real life", he responded: "My son Abhishek...!"

It comes as no surprise as apart from being a doting dad, the 72-year-old also shares love for football and gadgets with his son.

Their chemistry and ability to work together as a team has also translated on screen in films like "Bunty Aur Babli" and "Paa".

For Amitabh, it's an emotional experience to look back at "Sholay", an iconic Bollywood film directed by Ramesh Sippy, and one which starred artistes as talented as Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri, Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan.

It was interesting back then that Dharmendra went on to marry Hema, while Amitabh had exchanged vows with Jaya only months before the film's shooting began.

Did that make the film all the more special?

"Artistes involved in a project all work with the intent of delivering what has been asked of them, and that to me is special," he said.