INTERVIEW: I wish I had these lovely ladies when I was playing leading man – Amitabh Bachchan

It‘s one of those rare days when Amitabh Bachchan drops his guard and gets candid about his ideas and feelings be it on the changing Bollywood scenario, the younger generation, rivalry, competition and regret of not been able to work with the leading ladies of today. Bachchan also sounds upbeat about several films in his kitty and having an extremely busy 2016 ahead of him. Excerpts from the marathon interview ahead of the release of Bejoy Nambiar-directed Wazirwith Farhan Akthar as his co-star.   

Tell us about your character in Wazir

My character is that of a Kashmiri Pandit who lives in Delhi and due to an accident he loses both his legs. So he is seen on a wheel chair in the film. He loves chess, he plays it really well and teaches the game to kids in the house. In his life as well as Farhan’s life there have been certain unpleasant incidents which brings them closer and they together sort out their problems. Wazir is named so because he plays chess and the game is wonderfully weaved into the story.  

The film is a collaboration of many creative minds – you, Farhan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Abhijat Joshi, Bejoy Nambiar. How was the shooting process?

Much before we went on to the floor to shoot, the story idea, the dialogue, script... everything was narrated to us in detail. Once we went on the sets we executed it. There were readings, there were two to three individual and joint readings. There were discussions and after that you had the liberty to express your point of view and all those matter could have been questioned or prone to questioning.  

The idea for the film originated 12 to 15 years back...

It was narrated to me and at that time it was in English, they wanted to make it for Hollywood. It was a very interesting story, when you see the film you realise. For some reason it did not materialise then. This is now Indianised.  

Over a decade ago Farhan directed you for Laqshya, so how was it sharing screen space with him?

Farhan grew up in front of me, it is wonderful to be in his company. During the making of Wazir, sometimes there were little points which he would view as a director and would bring it up to our notice. I found this very interesting.

Farhan has said that directing you was more tough than working with you...

No, that is wrong. It was tough for me to work under him and it was tough for me to work with him, as an actor

Your handwritten letters are preserved by the younger lot. You recently wrote a letter to Priyanka Chopra for her performance in Bajirao Mastani; you also wrote to Ranveer Singh, then you praise films on your blog...So did you also receive letters from senior actors for your performance in your hey days?

Not many have written to me so obviously they have not liked my work. But I have always been an admirer of DilipSaab (Dilip Kumar). He wrote a letter after he saw Black and that has been preserved by me. 

You have been working with the younger generation of directors, you will be now working with Ribhudas Gupta in his Hindi debut film, then Wazir has been made by Bejoy Nambiar who makes very different films. We seldom see superstars giving a push or encouragement to newcomers...

First of all, I don’t believe in these wonderful epithets like ‘Superstar’ you all come up with. I believe in what kind of a role is being offered to me, the kind of story it is and who is making it. That’s about it. If you are impressed by somebody’s way of narration, his  presentation, his desire to do something in a particular manner, yes why not? How did people take interest in you when you were starting off, and did you have that same desire? I guess, that is the kind of desire that a newcomer also looks forward to. I was also a newcomer 45 years ago and I used to hope and wish that I would get an opportunity to work with some of these greats and when I do get an opportunity I am thankful for it. But all the others who are starting off their careers were at one point in the same situation as I was and I know what they feel, what they go through. I can’t say that I am empathising with them but I just feel that unless you discover new talent how do you progress in life, you have to keep changing. 

Do the young actors get intimidated by you?

Nobody gets intimidated by me. It is the contrary. They are so good that I make lot of mistakes in front of them and it is really bad. After it is over I call the director saying, Arre yaar, voh theek hua nahin, so I have to redo it. It is a lovely process.There are directors who tolerate me and ask me to do it again

Who among the younger lot has impressed you the most?

They are all very good, I cannot pick one of them because they are all so talented and so good in their very first appearance. It is unimaginable for somebody like me to even think that I can do what they are doing when I was starting of. I am still hesitant and still learning on how to present myself, what to do, but these people are so confident, they are so brilliant.I admire the fact that they are so conversant with where they want to go and what they want to do. I still don’t know what I want to do, where I want to go. Even if you go out very minutely to look for mistakes in their work you will not find. I can’t find a mistake when I see a Ranbir or a Deepika or a Ranveer in Bajirao. Priyanka , Alia, Kangana...look at the kind of work they are doing, it is unbelievable. It is so wonderful, you feel this is the generation that is going to take us even further. Look how our films have reached overseas. People like Karan (Johar), Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir have made it possible for much bigger audience to watch our films, and it is so wonderful when you go abroad and hear them talk about our films, talk about our superstars like Shah Rukh and Salman, it is a great feeling. 

Talking about younger actresses, we have immense talent now. Have you ever thought of being paired opposite a certain actress?

Ya, we tried it once in Nishabd, it was a failure because the audience didn’t accept the fact that a 60-year-old could fall in love with an 18-year-old girl. No, I am not going to get a leading lady of the younger generation to play my love interest, that period is over and I regret it because I wish I had these lovely ladies when I was playing leading man. There are more character roles and character- oriented roles which will come to me and which is what I am doing. 

There was a time when business of a film would pick up in theatres after two or three weeks by the word of mouth. Now there are just two to three films like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Baahubali which ran for over 50 days at theatres. How do you see this changing trend?

It is the speed of communication. It took you seven days to make a call to New York in the 60’s and the 70’s. Today I can talk anywhere in the world right now while sitting here. I will have access to anything happening at any part of the world, immediately. There is a  speed in thinking in this generation due to various communication facilities that have happened. You want things instantly. That philosophy and that thinking has now percolated into how we want to see our cinema. The moment you enter the theatre and if within two minutes you know what will happen next and you are already bored then you have not made a good film. This generation is extremely differently equipped. They have all kinds of media where speed is what matters.You don’t write anymore and perhaps you will not write this interview yourself, you will give it to some one to.transcribe and then you will add your commas and full-stops. Previously people would sit, talk and write. With the speed of communication your thinking has changed. You need immediate answers. 

2016 will be an extremely busy year for you, which are your forthcoming projects?

I will first complete Sujoy Ghosh’s Te3n, I am leaving for Kolkata soon and will be busy in its completion the whole of this month. Soon after, I will start work on Shoojit Sircar’s production, a social thriller, which will be shot in Delhi between January and March-end. Immediately after that I will begin shooting Aankhen 2. Then there is one more project which I can’t talk about, and lastly Shoojit’s own direction at the end of this year. And perhaps I will take up some television assignment.

Recently, we saw Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani release on the same day. What is your take on films clashing?Do you think it results into loss for the industry?

Someone who has the business acumen can tell this, I have none, so I really don’t know. But it is not an uncommon practice. Right from the days when I have been there, several films would clash on the same day and all used to do well. 

You are highly active in social media, you keep replying to almost everyone but there are times when you miss out and trollers start, we have seen others like Rishi Kapoor getting angry at some of these trollers. How do you deal with such situations?

If you are going out into the social media you should be prepared to accept anything otherwise don’t be there, and if you have a certain way of dealing with it that is also fine. If am speaking to my well-wishers and fans, they have the liberty to criticise me, to abuse me, to like me...I have to accept all of that.  

Talking about your granddaughter, Aaradhya, does she understand your film? Does she watch your movies? Anything that she has ever said?

No, she is too young for that. But when she starts talking I am sure you will all come to know about it. 

Earlier, most of you actors would sign about half a dozen films simultaneously, whereas today actors have just one or maximum two films in their hand, what is your take on this changing scenario?

(Eager to answer)The whole process of film-making has changed. Earlier, there was always a shortage of funding, so if somebody went to make a film, how do you impress a prospective funder of what you are doing? So you would go with big names among actors, you go with directors, telling the funder about his track record. Some fund would come this way and with that money the director, in order to impress the person who is investing, used to shoot one or two songs, do one fight scene and show it to him. The filmmaker would get more money and the process used to go on for a year. For one or two years till the filmmaker got his funding to complete the film, the artistes were sitting. So in this time period we used to sign several films at the same time so that we keep working. We were all working with the same kind of people who were looking for funding but at least we were working. Now there is no problem of funding and it is more planned, it is more organised and therefore I think artistes are doing good. They sign one film at a time, they are able to give concentrated time. I am so happy that I am doing Te3n in a non-stop schedule and I will finish the film by this month. I did the same thing for Paa and Shamitabh. It helps you get into the character otherwise during my time we used to do three shifts a day while shooting three different films simultaneously!