Big B says Ash isnt unlucky .......

It's rare for Amitabh Bachchan to bare all in an interview, but the superstar spoke out candidly in an exclusive interview to Mid-Day, the Mumbai afternoon newspaper.
Reproduced with kind permission from Mid-Day is Bachchan's tell-all interview to the newspaper's Upala KBR:

There has been speculation about Aishwarya Rai being unlucky for your family.

This is very insensitive. First, there were reports about her being a manglik before marriage, and then getting married to a tree, and now this. Every day there is some prediction about what she is, what her future will be, yeh jis ghar mein jayegi uska father-in-law mar jayega (her father-in-law will die). Aishwarya is not unlucky for us! Whatever is fated will happen.

It's all very well for the media to speculate and write, but has anyone thought about what she and her family must be going through? The worst is that the speculation has not stopped. Yeh ho gaya, woh ho gaya (this has happened, that has happened) -- all because of Aishwarya!

Have they any idea what she and Abhishek are really going through? What's marriage but the belief between two people? It's not scientific or ritualistic. It's about two minds connecting. This is my wife and she will be my wife for the rest of my life. That's it.

Do you believe in astrology?

No, I don't. Before Zanjeer released, Jaya and me had decided that if Zanjeer is a hit, we will go to London for a holiday, as I had never been abroad. When it became a hit and we told our parents that we are going on a holiday, my father said, 'If you go on a holiday with her, you must marry her.' I said fine, we got married and left. Abhishek and Aishwarya are fond of each other.

In New York, after the premiere of Guru, Abhishek called me and said that he proposed to her. I said, 'Come on home.' I asked Aishwarya if she was happy. She said yes. I picked them up and took her home. I told her, this is your home. Humko kya lena dena hai aur kuch se? (How does anything else matter?)

Did your brother Ajitabh go to Bangalore with Aishwarya's horoscope?
My brother did no such thing! He probably went on a personal visit. There was a report in the electronic media that my brother had taken their horoscopes to Bangalore, to show them to an astrologer, who confirmed it. What is really disheartening is that you are not willing to believe the principals, but instead some astrologer who I don't know anything about. I haven't seen her horoscope, neither has any family member.

There were reports of her being a manglik...

It is ridiculous, we don't believe in this! If two people consent, are in love with each other and want to marry, that's it. We are happy with it. We have never looked at horoscopes. I don't even know how to spell the word manglik! I don't even know what she is. How much can you take? What do you do?

Is Ash married to a tree?

Ash is not married to a tree! The cure for a manglik is that she has to marry a tree. It's a challenge -- please show me the tree she married! Bring that person who married her to the tree. Where did it happen? Aishwarya Rai getting married to a tree: do you think the media wouldn't have known about it and gone to the place?

She went to Benares with your family and prayed there...

It was November 23, my father's birthday. Every year, on that day, for the last four years, we celebrate my father's birthday with a Kavi Sammelan in Lucknow. Last year, when we decided to go, my mother was in hospital. I said we haven't had any celebration like Holi and Diwali as my mother is ill in hospital.

I am saddened that people brushed aside that aspect and did not bother about it. We decided we can't have the poetry symposium as Ma is in hospital. Jaya said it would be nice if the family came and prayed at the Sankatmochan temple in Benares so we went together