He's so inundated with people who have come to meet him that one begins to think he's really turning into Ek Ajnabee. But no, it's just a good day to meet Amitabh Bachchan. He's in an upbeat mood, clad in white trousers and shirt and a salmon pink, cotton blazer. It's also a good hair day for him, his salt and pepper shock looks dandy. Running a trifle behind schedule, as he shoots for Bunty Walia's 'Ek Ajnabee', Amitabh Bachchan makes sure the media is appeased, as well as his producers. The man's a lesson in himself, much to be gleaned from, even just watching him as he goes about his job. His business of pleasing the world.
In 'Ek Ajnabee', you play a character who loses his interest in life primarily, which is only restored to interest when he is called upon to be bodyguard to, and protect a small child. Does it happen in real life too, that when your fledglings leave the nest, your interest in life wanes, and only children give one's life any purpose?
I wouldn't know, because my fledglings have not yet left the nest. But the mental frame of the character in the film is not so much because he does not have a family life, but because there is a past to this character. He was in the army, but went through a traumatic time, which one of his juniors who was with him at that time knows about. Now, it is the junior who has called him to Bangkok and he wonders why. He's just gone as a friend, as a senior, and then he comes to know that he has to do a job as a bodyguard. There's a lot of surprise and amazement because he has had a trauma, which deals with crowded situations and with children, and therefore this is almost an area which is impenetrable. He does not want to enter that area, so it comes as a huge surprise to him. But when he meets the kid and learns the circumstances, he just goes ahead and does it. And then, as the story unfolds, there is a lot of affection that develops between these two characters, and eventually the drama that is created unfolds.
When you portray a character like this, how much is association and how much imagination, or do you pretty much just follow a script?
Because this is inspired from 'Man On Fire' which is already a made film, we didn't have too much struggle trying to understand the character. It is dealing with kidnapping, which apparently is a bigger business than even drugs today, and this really addresses that issue. I don't know. We rely a lot on what the director has to say and the way the script is written. Then we give it our own perspective and if we're going terribly wrong, the director will tell you that.
You were saying your fledglings haven't left the nest as yet. What if Abhishek were to express a desire to set up home in a separate establishment and live independently? There were rumours of his having bought a huge house on Carter Road.
Those stories are false. Why should it mean that he wants to leave us? We don't know what this house is and whose is it. I wish it were true, but it's not Abhishek's. Whatever was made out by the press is wrong. I don't know where these stories come from. If you're asking me to justify these stories, I'm telling you I don't have to.
On your birthday, don't you ever long to be just left alone to spend time by yourself and with your family, instead of having to deal with innumerable fans and people who build temples for you and come cycling thousands of kilometers to get a glimpse of you? Doesn't it all get to you ever? Secondly, what is it about you, you think, that makes them reach out to you like that?
I don't celebrate my birthday. I really don't even want to. But it's difficult to go past family members who insist on doing something. There has been perhaps just one public celebration, which was my 60th birthday. I had no say in it. I was just told to keep quiet, and I said I shall dutifully come wherever you want me to go, because they said it's an important year, and Jaya had brought out a book and they wanted some people. And so, I just took a back seat and they did everything. But I don't like celebrations, and I would rather spend time with my family, and that's what I do. This year we had a terrible tragedy in the northern region and it would have looked very insensitive and been in very bad taste to celebrate publicly. That's why we didn't do anything.
You mean to say, you have all this thrust on you in an event that even you want to downplay? Surely you can put your foot down?
As for my personal feelings, they may be different, but I cannot stop the people, and I cannot stop the media from coming to my doorstep. So long as I don't contribute to it, which I do not. This is the love and affection of the people and the least that I can do is to acknowledge that. I have to acknowledge anyone who paints a picture, writes a poem. I have to do that even if I would not want them to do all that. So I am very grateful to all of them for their love, and I do see and talk to them for a few minutes. That's all I can do. And I do it happily.
The story goes that you were upset with Karan Johar's script for Abhishek's role in 'Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna', and that you asked for a rewrite.
No, this is totally wrong. It's not true at all.
Do you recommend and advice Abhishek on every script he chooses? Whose choice is it eventually?
We sit together at the dining table and we talk, just like any other family. It could be about a film we are in together, or any of his other films, as well. And we discuss what we should be doing and what we think we should not, and what we are going to be doing. The ultimate choice is obviously Abhishek's.
What if there is a great difference of opinion and you feel this is something he should not be doing (a film), and he feels otherwise? Does he feel compelled to defer to your wishes?
Then he will be allowed to follow his own decision. There's no compulsion for him to defer to what I say. We leave it to him. We talk about it sometimes when I feel that this film suits him or doesn't, but he has his own ideas. He makes his own decisions and goes ahead and does what he wishes to do.
Abhishek has finally arrived big time as the term goes. Whilst so many of his contemporaries are doing commercials left, right and center (those that remain to be done after you have finished your quota), Abhishek's is still a rarer face in commercials? Why isn't he doing them, what is he wary of?
It's coming, with… eh, within a couple of months, I think. He'll be around in a lot of commercials then.
There are rumours of a fallout between Shah Rukh Khan and you over the issue of Abhishek. Apparently Shah Rukh has been upset with Abhishek's rising success and popularity, and is unwilling to give him his due, even going to the extent of snubbing him at times, one has heard. He's unwilling to recognize him as a worthwhile contender.
There's no truth to this at all. Shah Rukh is a very dear friend, he's very close to our family. Our relations remain the same; certainly they do. We're working together in several projects. I don't think that there's any relevance to the fact that Shah Rukh is not allowing another actor to come up. No actor has the capacity to do that. If the fans love them, you're there. It's sufficient to know the camera, if he's delivering, this is what people want. The people will decide that. No other actor can.
I can't do anything to prevent some other actor from coming up. This is a great fallacy and we least of all expect that to happen with Shah Rukh. He's our dear friend. We're working in 'Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna'. We're going to be working together in probably Shah Rukh's home production. There's no question of him falling out with us.
AB Corp's first official release, Mahesh Manjrekar's 'Viruddh' flopped badly. How do you account for that, and how has it affected the next few steps taken by AB Corp?
This is neither a fault, nor a faltering for AB Corp. We have not faltered. We had decided that we will hold hands and work with another producer, share the equity without any investment. We have not invested any money so we have not lost any. As a matter of fact, we've made some money because 'Viruddh', though it may not have hit the roof, was not a bad film. We got good critical acclaim; it was a very simple, well made film, well performed; it attracted
a lot of good healthy criticism, from the media, as well as several sections of the audiences and people. We're very happy with the film.
If, as you say, this film had all the ingredients that projected it as a plus, what was missing that it also didn't set the box-office coffers jingling? What was the intangible X factor that the film lacked?
I wish I knew, because if I did, then all our films would have been hits. But then you know, we're not Karan Johar and we're not Yash Chopra.
You're saying they have the infallible formula?
I don't know. Whatever, it's working for them. So until we can get to that, we have to wait.
What's the progress on Rajkumar Santoshi's film for AB Corp?
'Family', yes (he perks up), I think my work is over and we're coming out in December.
Does Jayaji seek political advice from you?
No. You can seek advice from someone who is capable of giving it. I am not capable of giving it.
In the second run of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati', even though the money promised has been Umeed se Dugna, barring the first week when it was number one on the TRP charts, it seems to have flagged down a bit. What would you attribute that to?
I don't know. I don't even know whether it's flagging or not. I just go out there and do my job. But Star TV is happy. People are happy wherever I go. They want to see it and they want to compliment me for it. Even if it is crowds in Rajasthan, where I've just been; they're seeing it also. I don't see where this is coming from. It started off with 19 TRP which is unbelievable. And in some states it was 34 or 38. In Gujarat, it was 34. In Madhya Pradesh, it was 38 (those are the guys with their minds on the money, I comment.) Ha, who knows! Now, it has leveled off at around 12, which is also extremely, extremely, extremely high! But what is really noticeable is the fact that Star TV has perhaps won. They have improved their weekend ratings almost a 1000 per cent as a result of 'KBC'. That needs to be looked into also.
What was certainly, also noticeable in the initial two episodes was the glaring loudness of your costumes, call if flamboyant, if you will. How could you have let that pass? Thankfully, you seem to have changed your designer after that. You surely don't need to wear clothes that scream, to be noticed?
No, it was deliberate, that's what Star TV wanted me to wear. I don't know what it was, but whatever they tell me to wear, I wear it. It was meant to be a mix of casuals and suits.
In the July rains that devastated this city, we read about a lot of your photographs and memorabilia being washed away. Can anything ever compensate the sense of loss, also the tangible destruction of something so dear as beautiful memories of the past?
Firstly, this is absolutely untrue. I don't know where the media got hold of this wild belief that I've lost all my memories or memorabilia, so to say. Nothing of this sort has happened. Yes, there has been damage to property, but that's not something that cannot be repaired. But damage to property was universal. Everybody's stuff was damaged - it was a deluge, after all. Looking at it from a broader perspective, I wish the common man that suffered the most, should have had several more opportunities to be taken care of. But we do not have the means or the systems in place to do better than this, so I feel bad about the common man rather than myself. We will live it through perhaps. But the losses and the damage that it cost to the common man and the poorer people was really terrible. It was an irreparable loss, and a very regrettable loss at that.
Much ado is being made about your having performed your own stunts in 'Ek Ajnabee'. Have you never done your own stunts before? What made you opt for doing them this time, a sense of recklessness or adventure?
It's all just part of the action. A couple of shots here and there, a couple of kicks and all that. I've done it in the past. At this age, I can manage to do this much, I can't manage to do everything and I told them I'm not going to do it all. They think this is terrific. I think this is OK.
You are playing the title role of 'Eklavya' in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's next. What is the film all about?
I'm not sure whether I'm authorized to talk about the film just yet. But it's set in Rajasthan, and it's set in royalty. There is history in the setting. It's not a period film. It's set in contemporary India, but even now, we still have royalty. This is about one such family.
In Karan Johar's next mega starrer, 'Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna', will you do a repeat of your 'K3G' type of role, just another playing the patriarch of a massive family, as many of Karan's film have you play? Or is there really any meat for you in the role (I know you're vegetarian, primarily)?
I don't really know if there's enough meat as you say. I'll know better when I finish my schedule. I've just done four days work so far. And Abhishek is my real son in the film. I'm part of this film like I am with any other film. I only get 15 to 20 days work, in any case, in any film I do. So this is probably just like that.
Surely that's not true of a film like 'Sarkar'. Come on, the entire film was about you!
'Sarkar' was eight days work. ('For you', I squeal.) Yeah. Just eight days. It maybe that the film was completed faster than a Karan Johar film, but that's not my concern Whatever. But if you're looking at the number of days, it was eight days for me.
That may well be the case, but as an actor, what more could you ask for?
Oh, certainly it was a pleasure to do a film like that. It was very different from what Ram Gopal Varma would have been expected to make. It took a lot to say that this was not just based on 'The Godfather'. And he did not just say it, he actually proclaimed it. This was his interpretation, or his creative vision of this character and what he wants to do with it. The fact that it eventually turned out to be much of an emotional family story is quite remarkable because we all know that Ram Gopal Varma just abhors anything to do with family and sentiment and emotions. And many a times he would go, 'Hah'. He would actually laugh at himself when he was doing many of the scenes, and he would say, 'Ok, now enough of this drama, let's get down to some action'. But he did make a very very competent film. And I think, in recent times, the use of silence, the brevity of expression, and the enhancement of the moments of music when it comes in the background was never more prevalent and so strong, as it was in 'Sarkar'. And I think it was exceptionally challenging for the actors to be in that situation, and absolutely remarkable from the point of view of the audience to be able to understand it, and appreciate it. So really, the audiences have gone through a remarkable change. Whether it is an appreciation for 'Black', or 'Page 3', or for 'Iqbal' or for 'Sarkar'. You can see that every nuance in all these films has been completely understood and appreciated, absolutely. Time and again while we were doing it, we thought, who's going to get it, but let's do it all the same. But it's been wonderful how they have come back to see the film and talked about it. And expressed their appreciation of something like
this. So really, kudos to the cinema going audiences of today because they are an enlightened lot, and for us, that is like magic.
Would you say 'Sarkar' has been singularly the most satisfying role you've played?
I can say that 'Black' has been very satisfying. It had a huge canvas of emotions and expressions. 'Sarkar' was very strong, very subdued, and very personal. It takes time to get into a role like that. Sometimes, it's difficult to go through a whole film with one expression or one moment, as opposed to having lots of things to do. It's not enough for an actor that he gets an opportunity to display his talent. But some of the purists say, or anybody, if you're giving him variety within a format of three hours, would love to do that if you're a professional actor. That's what's expected of you. But what is not expected of you is for you to carry out something with equal strength and with a certain amount of constancy. There is not too much variation, but yet to be able to deliver. So these are two different schools of thought.
Surely, if you offer the audiences varied fare, they will accept it. To appreciate the flavour, your menu should have variations and experimentations in films.
Yes, but that is happening for me because of my age. I'm at an age where I'm obviously not going to be playing the typical leading man. One gets an opportunity to do different things. You could be a middle aged character in one, an older character in one, a naughty character in one, so I think this is a marvelous phase where I'm fortunately getting varied kinds of roles, and I'm not really too burdened with issues like if I do this, will the audience accept me?…What will be the outcome of the film?... No. The outcome or the burden is on the leading man who is somebody else, somebody younger. And I am free to do what my role calls for.
Barely five years ago, you lamented that roles were not being created for people of your age. So the situation seems to have improved in your favour.
Yeah, I said that. But I'm not saying that it has improved drastically. I'm just saying that I'm really really fortunate.
You're just greedy for good roles, Mr B.
Nooo, I'm just really fortunate that there are some people who take an interest in me.
Why would you do a walk-on role in a Kannada film 'Amrithdhare'? They have their own superstars in the south.
The producer director said, "We want you because that's a part of our story." I play myself in the film. There's a girl in the film, who is a fan of Amitabh Bachchan, and who's been promised by the boy that one day she will get to meet him. And I think that she is ailing. This is to fulfill one of her desires that he actually takes her to meet me. So I did it. That's all there is to it.
Kumkum Bhagya
Hollywood
Anupamaa
Health and Fitness
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