Leave Abhishek, Aish alone

In the second and final part of an interview to Upala KBR, Amitabh Bachchan talks about Rajnikant, his so-called rivalry with Shah Rukh Khan and other issues

About politics: Why didn’t you accept the post of President? Your name figured once.

No. It’s a joke. I have never thought about it. It’s embarrassing to even talk about it. I am not qualified. No such proposal was made. If in my wildest dreams it ever happened, I would have refused.

Rajnikant’s Sivaji is a big success. Have you seen it?

He sent me a copy. I will see it in a day or two.

Do you feel he is an actor who hasn’t got his due?

Rajni is a dear friend and we have worked together in several films. He’s phenomenal. If there’s one word that fits his demeanour, stature and personality, that’s it. Rajni hasn’t changed a bit. That’s why he’s such a phenomenon.

He was a bus conductor, and look where he has reached. This is a fantastic example for any young Indian. If you have the belief, strength and talent and are ready to put in hard work, you can reach the sky. Rajni still has the Fiat he bought with his first earnings.

He always travels in it in the front seat. If you go to his house, he moves around bare feet and will walk out bare feet to meet you. Whatever he has got till now and is getting is not his due. He deserves much more.

You too enjoy an iconic status and are down to earth. Does it become difficult as you climb higher?

I knew that some people saw and appreciated my films but I wasn’t aware how much. In 1982, when I met with an accident and I was almost on my deathbed, I was made aware of the affection the people had for me.

I can’t forget that. I have immense gratitude and affection for the people. I carry a huge debt, which I know I shall never be able to repay. I try as much as I can to reach out to people.

They come every Sunday ever since 1982 to my gate. I don’t know what they want or why they come but they come and when I am in town, I meet them.

Do you write poetry like your father Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan?

No. My mother always used to say, one poet in the family is enough (laughs).

You have been getting many TV offers – are they serials, reality shows or chat shows?

Three channels have submitted ideas for shows. Not soaps really, but shows. It’s difficult to describe them. I keep talking to people who are in television and ask what it is like to work in serials. They say it’s horrendous…

Would you be open to working in TV shows like Kyunki…?

I don’t know (laughs). If there’s an interesting story not in the bracket of saas-bahu sagas, as I wouldn’t fit into them, then why not? If it’s something different, I will be open to it.

Unless you actually get into it, you’ll never know. Everyone says it’s very hard as there are time constraints and it is strenuous. I don’t know whether my body can take it. Let’s see how things develop.

TV is growing rapidly. Soon it will get bigger than films. The projection where finances are concerned is huge. It will become a Rs 20,000 crore industry.

Did Kaun Banega Crorepati 3 come as a shock?

I fell ill. I had surgery, and it took me a while to recover. Certain piquant situations arose as I left it in the middle. For KBC, each episode is planned two to three months in advance, as there’s the whole thing about phoning in, competition that goes on and that’s a structure one can’t override.

I was unable to give an exact date on which I could resume. I thought I would resume in the middle of the year, but the process would have waited for eight months.

They couldn’t do that or put on another show in between, as the graphics of commercial considerations goes berserk and one can’t do it for a limited period. There were many problems. I didn’t say anything, but then they said they wouldn’t be able to do it, so…

Were you disappointed?

No. I am truly happy Shah Rukh Khan did it and he did a very fine job. I told him so when I met him in London. I thought I was perhaps getting stale. One can’t change the format.

All one can change is your initial talk to the audience and many people I met said that after what I say in the beginning they switched off the TV! It’s just as well I was not there.

Were the comparisons with SRK irritating?

Not at all. They asked me several times, but he gave it a new dimension and looked at it in a more light-hearted manner. He did it perfectly well.

What about the rivalry between him and you?

It’s not only boring to talk about, but embarrassing too. Everything is fine. I don’t know how this talk started.

Maybe because he was now doing your endorsements?

Just because someone does endorsements, are we going to start hating each other? Surely not. It’s a wider and liberal world that we live in. There is great pleasure and delight to see a generation growing up in this manner.

It’s remarkable to see what Shah Rukh has done as a human being and in his career, and continues to do. You can only feel happy about it. I was very touched by a letter to the editor in a paper, where there was a comparison of Rajnikant and myself.

In the end he wrote, why are we going on about this? Why aren’t we proud of the fact that in one country we have two such people? It’s a remarkable thought.

All the time we try to divide and antagonise each other, when we should appreciate the fact that there are such huge celebrities coming out of one country and industry. I wrote back to him, and said I applaud him for his thinking. This is what it should be.

There are camps in the film industry – the Khans, Bachchans, Chopras…

Where are the camps? I have lived in the industry for 38 years. Am I going camping? This is ridiculous. We all work together as one industry.

I have always propagated that if there’s one force in this country that is truly integrating our country, it is the film industry. Where else do you find this free, secular liberal integration? Why do we need to separate them?

Have you thought of it as your own fiefdom?

Impossible! The days of the British Raj are over. There is no kingdom. It’s a free, liberal, democratic country. We live in a free, liberal society. Politicians talk about it, intellectuals think about it, the media write about it, but we practice it.

Many people were upset when you didn’t invite them to Abhishek and Ash’s wedding. Some, like Shatrughan Sinha, returned the sweets. Did you feel let down by their reaction?

No. It is now almost four months since they married. They are two young, consenting adults who got together in holy matrimony, with the blessings of elders, and feel that we should leave them alone.

Day after day, to question this liaison – for what reason and cause? We need to leave them alone to lead their lives. It was a very difficult decision for us to take.

My mother has been lying critically ill in hospital for one year. It’s not easy to go there every day – she cannot see, speak, hear, or eat. She is fed through a tube in the stomach.

She just breathes. It’s tormenting for a son to keep talking to her without any response. How would you feel if you were in a similar situation where you come out of hospital, return home and start singing and dancing as your son is getting married?

Haven’t you been overprotective of Abhishek, lashing out at critics like Sanjay Gadhvi and promoting Guru?

I am talking about my son. I am allowed to defend and talk about him. I liked Guru. This is the only time I wept when I came out of the theatre. It was a deeply emotional moment – not just for the film, but the fact that he was my son and he had done such a fine job.

Yes, I wanted to tell the world, ‘Look, this is my son.’ It’s a very normal reaction. When somebody abuses your child, you will also fight for him. I haven’t gone out of the way, but when someone struck me as obtuse, then I have spoken.

Maybe they didn’t hear me earlier as I didn’t have a son like Abhishek. He was too young. There may have been times at school or when he was a kid that I have protected him. I was equally protective then, but the media didn’t know about it. I am very protective about my kids.

Are you a doting grandfather?

Absolutely. We spoil the kids more than we have spoilt our children and indulge their every whim. When Abhishek and Shweta were growing up, I couldn’t spend as much time with them as I wanted to. But yes, with the grandchildren now, we have all the time.

You have come in for criticism for your look in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

It’s director Shaad Ali and the designer’s concept. I am a character he has visualised. The coat and jeans were his ideas. The boots and cap were mine. Yes, it was outlandish and over the top, but that’s what Shaad wanted.