'I know SRK is doing a great job'-Amitabh

New Delhi: With the most-talked about wedding of Bollywood around the corner, and a slew of films in the pipeline, Amitabh Bachchan has a lot to look forward in the near future. CNN-IBN correspondent Suhasini Haidar spoke to Big B moments after he received the French honour Legion d'honneur at the French Embassy in the Capital.

Suhasini Haidar: You have won France's highest civilian award— the Legion d'honneur. What does this honour means to you?

Amitabh Bachchan: Getting this award was a moment of great happiness, joy and pride. More for the fact that France is taking notice of the people in the Indian film industry. Indian cinema is going global and is gathering foreign clientele. It feels great to know that the French have a very strong affliction towards Indian cinema. I hope this enhances our prospects of winning similar awards in other parts of the world.

Suhasini Haidar: You get so many awards. Do you ever get tired of them?

Amitabh Bachchan: No, not at all. Though I don't deserve any of these awards, I understand and appreciate the warmth that goes behind them. I accept them with gratitude and humbleness.

Suhasini Haidar: You said that the French honour shows what India means to the world. If you were to fill in the blank—"India is rising because…" what would you say?

Amitabh Bachchan: I think I would go back a few years and say that the whole policy of liberalisation, allowing India open its doors to foreign ventures has greatly enhanced our economy. I believe that as the economy of a country develops, everything about it starts getting noticed, becomes important, valuable and 'in vogue'. India has suddenly got into the world focus, because of its growing economy. Our food, culture, films, everything is getting noticed. I said in a recent campaign that we are poised to fly high. I believe it's time for us to take off.

Suhasini Haidar:Talking about campaigns, you just did an ad in which you proclaimed pride in your son, Abhishek. Do we expect to see a different side of yours' emerging out now?

Amitabh Bachchan: I don't think there is anything wrong about a father expressing happiness in his son's achievements. I liked what he did and I wanted to express it. That is what I have done.

Suhasini Haidar:Should we be reading more of such proud notes, now that you son is ready to step out of your shadow.

Amitabh Bachchan: He was never under my shadow. Seeing him achieve more in life fills me with pride. I just want to enjoy the happiness of my son doing well.

Suhasini Haidar: He is doing well and is all set to get married. We have seen you and your family acknowledge the entry of a new member into the Bachchan family—Aishwarya Rai. There have been years when you stayed out of the spot light in terms of your private affairs.

Amitabh Bachchan: To get things in and out of spotlight is up to the media. It is the media that decided to bring us into the spotlight on past few occasions. This is a free country. We all wanted to go to a temple and pray, its as simple as that.

Suhasini Haidar: We have been seeing you a lot at the temples. Is that a reconciliation of your faith in God?

Amitabh Bachchan: You are seeing me a lot because that is how I'm being projected by the media. We have faith in the unseen power of God. We go to the temples a lot and pray. But these are extremely intimate and personal occasions. The media is a free medium. It is free to project publicly what it wishes to project and draw its own conclusions. Media predictions may not entirely be correct at all the time, but what the heck. Let them do what they want.

Suhasini Haidar: There has been this common belief that a lot of puja that is being performed is actually to solve the astrological defects that hinder Aishwarya -Abhishek's relation.

Amitabh Bachchan: I think that is more media-created than anything else. There is no truth in these rumours at all.

Suhasini Haidar: Were you surprised by all the speculation surrounding the astrological problems in Ash-Abhishek matrimony?

Amitabh Bachchan: Not at all. Media speculation has never taken me by surprise. Abhishek is a prominent person, so is Aishwarya Rai. When public figures do something publicly, it is bound to get noticed. I always tell Abhishek, if you are bugged by that, stop being a celebrity. If you are a celebrity, you are going to be noticed and hence one has to careful of what he does in public. But if you are going to do something in public, be prepared for the fact that people are going to notice you. Media will report what you do and therefore we need to be sure of what we are doing.

Suhasini Haidar: Are you expecting more speculations and media attention as the wedding gets closer?

Amitabh Bachchan: Well, this is something that you people can answer yourself, whether you want to go about finding something you haven't been able to all this while.

Suhasini Haidar: We have heard you talk about your would-be-daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai. This is going to be an interesting association. You are a superstar, your wife is a politician, your daughter is a citizen journalist with CNN-IBN, your son-in-law is an industrialist, your son is a star, and your daughter-in-law is possibly an international star. Is it difficult to have all these egos and personalities under one roof?

Amitabh Bachchan: No, its no problem at all. We are just fortunate, its all that I can say.

Suhasini Haidar: A lot of films that you have done, from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, to KANK—talk about the crumbling family ties. Is that something that you too worry about in real life?

Amitabh Bachchan: I think films are influenced by what is happening somewhere in the society. Films have always touched upon important issues and the morals of the society. Every family has its own share of problems. If it's portrayed well on-screen it makes good cinema.

Suhasini Haidar: How do you keep your own family together?

Amitabh Bachchan: Why should I tell you that?

Suhasini Haidar: Tell us about your forthcoming projects—Nishabd and Cheeni Kum where you play a much older man, attracted towards women much younger to him.

Amitabh Bachchan: Nishabd is about the attraction between an 18-year-old girl and an elderly man in his 60s. The girl is in fact his daughter's friend who comes over to his house for a holiday but ends up getting into a relationship with him. Contrary to media speculation, the film is not a remake of the famous novel Lolita. However, it does deals with a sensitive subject that explores the attraction between a 60-year- old man and a young girl of 18. I am happy about the film, I think that Ram Gopal Varma the director of the film associated more with action films has treated the subject in a dignified, subtle manner. He has portrayed it in a very sensitive manner, there is no physicality or sexual overtones in the film—just a very peculiar situation and how does one deals with it. That is the beauty of the film. Cheeni Kum is also about attraction, though on a much lighter scale. As the title suggests, it portrays a sugar-less romance. In fact the man that I play here is even older than the girl's father and that is how the light-hearted romance turns strange.

Suhasini Haidar: How difficult was it for you to give up Kaun Banega Crorepati?

Amitabh Bachchan: I could not do KBC because I fell ill and needed time to recover. My health problems disturbed even the shooting schedule of my films. Many of my films were left unfinished at a critical point. I had to finish them first and by the time I got down to thinking about KBC, time had passed. It was in fact getting a little monotonous and routine for me for me to keep doing the same thing again and again. I had completed 350 episodes at a stretch and wasn't getting butterflies in my stomach anymore. There was no anxiety getting into the same chair again. So, I decided not to do it.

Suhasini Haidar: What do you think about the new KBC?

Amitabh Bachchan: I haven't seen it as yet. But I'm sure that Shah Rukh is doing a great job.

Suhasini Haidar: Are you baffled by the comparisons that are being made between you and Shah Rukh Khan?

Amitabh Bachchan: It's a media's job not mine really to make comparisons or feel baffled by them.

Suhasini Haidar: You said that you still feel 'butterflies in your stomach' sometimes. What is it really that makes you feel like that?

Amitabh Bachchan: Everything about tomorrow sends butterflies in my stomach. What kind of role am I playing, how would I face the camera, will I be able to say my lines correctly, will I do 125 retakes—all these question still make me nervous.

Suhasini Haidar: You lent your voice to Oscar winning French documentary March of the Penguins. Are we going to see you stepping out of Bollywood more and more?

Amitabh Bachchan: Anything that is creatively challenging interests me. So did the film March of the Penguins. It's a beautiful story, exquisitely shot. They wanted me to use my voice in both Hindi as well as English version of the film. It's very interesting to express emotions of characters and events that have no words in a film. I happy that people liked my way of expression in the film. Hope more people become fond of it when the film releases.

Suhasini Haidar: What do you do when you are not doing films?

Amitabh Bachchan: I give interviews.

Suhasini Haidar: People often talk about the three A's—Amitabh, Amar Singh and Anil Ambani. All three of you are of different age group, careers and areas of power. What is it really that is common between the three of you?

Amitabh Bachchan: We are friends. When it comes to friendship, age, career, profession does not matters. Don't you have friends who are not journalists? Its similar to that.

Suhasini Haidar: You have always ruled out your interest in either business or politics.

Amitabh Bachchan: Yes, that's true. I'm not meant for either of the two streams.

Suhasini Haidar: Strange that you have always distanced yourself from being directly involved into politics and yet you are seen in promotional ads for Uttar Pradesh apparently a favour to your friend and politician Mulayam Singh.

Amitabh Bachchan: I have featured in that ad because I'm the brand ambassador appointed by the Uttar Pradesh Development Council. Its my job to propagate Uttar Pradesh. But apart from that I belong to the state I'm promoting so much. I was born and brought up in Uttar Pradesh, seven generations of our family have lived in UP. I invite people to come an invest in UP, and see how its progressing.

Suhasini Haidar: But then why do you distance yourself from contesting elections from that state?

Amitabh Bachchan: I do not regret stepping back from politics. My getting into politics was an emotional decision. I think I failed in politics because I was unqualified for the job. Therefore I chose to withdrew.

Suhasini Haidar: Your wife Jaya Bachchan has been doing reasonable well in politics. What do you have to say about that?

Amitabh Bachchan: She is not much of a politician in the real sense. She is a nominated member to the Rajya Sabha. She likes going to the Parliament, asking questions there and getting replies.

Suhasini Haidar: If she were to stand in elections, would you campaign for her?

Amitabh Bachchan: I don't think she would contest the elections.

Suhasini Haidar: After achieving so much in life, is there still an unfulfilled dream?

Amitabh Bachchan: You never know. Tomorrow is another day. Life brings newer challenges and that is what makes it exciting. I look forward to opportunities and fresh challenges. I wouldn't say that I'm fully satisfied with life because a creative person never gets fully satisfied with anything.

I wonder what wrong SRK loyalists will find out by twisting this interview....😔