Friends turn Abhishek into cameo-king

Friends turn Abhishek into cameo-king

Subhash K Jha

There was Salaam Namaste some months ago where Abhishek Bachchan suddenly appeared unbilled as the frazzled madcap doctor to deliver Preity Zinta's twins in the film. Last week he sauntered into Sujoy Ghosh's Home Delivery. And this Friday he walked in and out of two of the three releases – Neal 'N' Nikki and Ek Ajnabee.

What's with this rush-hour on 'guest appearance street'? Abhishek smiles tiredly when he says, "First of all I refuse to call any of those so-called walk-in parts 'guest appearances'. Every part is a character that I played in Salaam Namaste, Neal 'N' Nikki, Ek Ajnabee and even Home Delivery where I was barely visible for a few seconds."

Were these roles enacted at the request of friends? "All these small characters were played for the sake of dear friends. Uday Chopra is one of my dearest friends. It was a pleasure being part of something as important for him as Neal 'N' Nikki. Director Arjun Sablok is someone I've known for some time now. For Home Delivery I was there for the opening shot. Sujoy Ghosh is a friend and I volunteered to play a customer at the pizza joint just for fun. As for Ek Ajnabee, Apoorva Lakhia is one of my closest friends. Both Lara and I did his first film Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost and we just had to be part of his second film, especially since Dad plays the lead. I believe Lara and I have been received with claps and whistles by the audiences," says Abhishek.

Are there any more surprise appearances one should expect from him? "None that I can remember. But it all started with Karan Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham where I sauntered into a shot. Karan edited me out. I guess I'm making up for lost time," says Abhishek who's all set for his next release Bluff Master. "It's a different but entertaining film…very unlike what we generally get to see. Rohan Sippy, Riteish, Priyanka and I had loads of fun shooting it. Priyanka is such a team player. She's right there, hands-on, no fuss and extremely focussed on the sets," he says.