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ShareOn his 67th birthday superstar Amitabh Bachchan in conversation with Ayaz Memon
Ayaz: You'll be completing 40 years in the film industry. I know it's difficult to sum up this great journey in a few words...
Bachchan: Yes, it's difficult, but let me try. Forty years is a long journey. A lot of times when I am asked this question, I get confused about what to say and what to leave out. But if I take every decade at one go, then the starting point is definitely with Abbas saab. I got my first role in his film Saat Hindustani. After that a few years went by because I kept on looking for a job here and there. Then there was this chance meeting with Prakash Mehra and Salim-Javed. It was the starting point of a fruitful relationship. I did several films with Prakash Mehra like Hera Pheri, Khoon Paseena, Namak Halal, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Sharaabi. At the same time, Salim-Javed wrote some really beautiful stories for me. The films turned out to be great simply because of the power of their writing. The characters they fleshed out for me were excellent because of the way they wrote them, be it Kaala Patthar, Dostana, Zanjeer, Khoon Paseena. During that time I also met Manmohan Desai and got acquainted with his unique way of making films. A lot of films were born with this association - Amar Akbar Anthony, Naseeb.... In this period, there were also Ramesh Sippy and Yash Chopra. With Ramesh, I did Sholay and with Yash I did films like Silsila and Kabhie Kabhie.
When this decade got over, a new generation of film makers came along like Mukul Anand and Tinnu Anand. Mukul Anand had come from the advertising world and had a different way at looking at films and a vivid imagination. All his films were visually appealing. Tinnu Anand was a family friend of mine. His parents and mine used to be friends. Interestingly, in the film Saat Hindustani, the role that I portrayed was initially offered to Tinnu but since he got an offer to become Satyajit Ray's assistant he left for Kolkata and the role was offered to me. He went on to become a director and he made some really good films in which I worked with him like Shahenshah and Kaaliya.
Then the next generation came along like Adi Chopra and Karan Johar and I got a chance to work in films with them like Mohabbatein and Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Ghum. In between I got interested in television also - like I was offered Kaun Banega Crorepati. I liked the concept and I started the game show in India.
During the nineties, I thought that I had worked enough and I should take a sabbatical. So I didn't work for about 5-6 years and went abroad. I operated a TV channel called TV Asia in the UK and USA. When I used to go to the US, I would get letters from these large film corporate houses like Sony, 20th Century Fox and I used to wonder what they wanted with an actor from India like me. But when I met them, I was startled with the research they had done about the film and the entertainment industry in India. They also had all the information about me - where I was born, the films I had done...everything. I asked my counsel, who used to help me when I went abroad for concerts and tours about the reason for such a detailed study he told me "Amitabh, I think that you should go back to your country because the Americans are going to come there. And you should be there at that time." Interestingly, all their letters always had a similar subject: 'India the new frontier'. I am talking of 1992-1993. They had started preparing back then!
When I came back here, I saw the industry being run like a family business. So I thought why not start a proper corporate company here like they do in the West? I started AB Corp. When we made a presentation about this company to financial experts, they said this is a unique endeavour. When you start a business, the first thing you take into account is how much raw material is required. My company was nothing like that. For the first time valuation was made for two persons - Jaya and me. I was valued at about Rs 15 crore and Jaya at about Rs 3 crore. That became the seed capital for the business with which I started AB Corporation. People asked me 'Sir, how are you going to return the money?' I said, 'The two people that you have put your money on will work and return your money'. So whatever I do that is linked to the entertainment business like endorsements, television shows, concerts - with the exception of films - all my earnings will go to the company and the shareholders.
Then next generation of young and talented filmmakers is Sujoy Ghosh, Shoojit Sircar and I am now working with them. Today the average age on my film sets is roughly around 25 years. Sometimes it feels odd and I ask myself what an old man like me, who is a good 40 years older than them, doing on the sets?' There's this thing I admire in the young generation - they have so much josh and confidence. They have so much dynamism! They are leaders and constantly proving something to the world. They work with the idea that 'nothing is impossible, I can do everything...' I have never seen such an environment. We used to be very cautious, fearful. These people are fearless. They are constantly driven by the idea to excel. Whatever excellent is happening in this world, they will do it. And then they will do better than that. This is a great thing.
So, in this way, forty years have passed.
