Big B says more to Shatru..

Amitabh Bachchan in his blog, bigb.bigadda.com, had hit out at Shatrughan Sinha, his wife and son and retaliated to accusations of award fixing. We carried Shatrughan Sinha's rejoinder to Amitabh Bachchan's comments on him in Mumbai Mirror dated April 23. Well, Big B read it and wanted to say more. Here goes:

Sinha: "Anger seems to have taken over the maturity of an actor like Amitabh Bachchan..."

AB: If giving a clarification to a comment directed towards my family and me unjustly, is immaturity, then yes I am an immature person. If someone is going to abuse my family I shall abuse back.

Sinha: "...over-reacted to my statement on TZP..."

AB: The statement carried in the press had no mention of Mr Sinha's reference to the film TZP as stated by Mr Sinha, but it did end with a comment from the media directing his comment to the film 'Guru'. If Mr Sinha felt that the media had erred, I would have expected for him to ask the media to correct it. In its absence I am compelled to react.

Sinha: "I agree my hand was there in the Award, but it was not like Mulayam's feet, which was there in every award the Uttar Pradesh government has bestowed only on one family.."

AB: Mr Sinha, I appreciate the fact that you have accepted the alleged accusation that I had made earlier. It can now be safely removed from an 'alleged' category. The Uttar Pradesh Government has decorated my family and me on four occasions. My father, Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Mr Amitabh Bachchan on two occasions and my son Mr Abhishek Bachchan. Even at the cost of losing an argument, you will, I believe, never question the integrity of the award to a literary giant - my father, irrespective of which or who's government gave it. For Mr Abhishek Bachchan, you have the right to question it, because it was given by a government you politically opposed. But, and this may really cause you grave discomfort, one of the UP Government decorations given to me, was when your own party, the BJP was in power. You need to improve your research Mr Sinha.

And in conclusion, I find your remark 'but it was not like Mulayam's feet..'extremely reverential even though you meant it in not so reverential a manner. My upbringing always taught me that the touch of the elders feet was the greatest blessing. It is sad that you were unable to acknowledge the maturity of that remark.