Ayaz: It has been a zabardast journey. A query on what you just said just. You spoke about films becoming family businesses. Yours is also regarded as the first family of the Hindi film industry…
Bachchan: That is what the media says. I don’t think that way…
Ayaz: Your family was not associated with films at all. What prompted you to join films?
Bachchan: When I was young, say since the time I went to kindergarten, I had an attraction for the stage. Whenever there was a performance on the stage in the neighbourhood, I always wanted to go and see it. Right from kindergarten, I used to take part in plays. The passion started increasing. Then I passed out of my school in Allahabad and went to a boarding school in Nainital - Sherwood College. There too I took part in plays regularly. After Senior Cambridge (that’s what it was called those days, I don’t know about now because it keeps on changing every year and I can’t keep track these days) – I came to Delhi.
Senior Cambridge would end in November, University started in June-July. We had nothing to do those six-seven months. So students like me kept themselves occupied with plays and games like tennis. I did some plays during that period too. Then university ended and I set out to look for a job. I went to Calcutta and got a job there. In Calcutta, I found out there were a lot of amateur dramatic groups. I joined one and started doing plays with them. This way, the silsila of me taking part in plays was always intact. Then one day I was told about this talent hunt by Filmfare.
The United Producers Forum of which all the leading producers in Bombay were a part and would invite candidates from all over the country to appear for a test. If you passed that practical test and were one of the winners, you would be given a chance to act in a film. Most of the time, people who want to act in films didn't know how to go about it. So I thought that this was a great opportunity for me because the producer’s body was a recognised one.
I applied but they rejected me right in the preliminary rounds. I was very disappointed. But I reasoned that at least I had a job. It was a good one since I used to get a salary of Rs 1200, had a car and a flat too. Life was comfortable. But I left everything because I didn’t like it. I came back home to Delhi. Then my brother, who used to work in a shipping company, got posted to Mumbai. A girl in my brother’s social circle used to work with Abbas saab. I was told that Abbas saab was looking for new face and my brother told him about me, that I was looking for a role.
He sent my photographs to Abbas saab and he liked them, so he asked me to meet him. I came to Mumbai from Delhi. When got to know my surname, he said, ‘`One minute! Are you are Harivanshji’s son? I need to find out first whether you have run away from home.’’ He spoke to my father because he knew him well. He then gave me a role. And that's how I came into films. I felt that working in films was a natural progression. I had worked on the stage and now films were definitely a new avenue for me.
Ayaz: Wasn’t there any pressure from your parents to not join films?
Bachchan: Never. My father never said what I was doing was something wrong. He said if you really want to do it, then please go ahead.
Ayaz: Is it true that you got paid about three thousand for Saat Hindustani?
Bachchan: I got paid about Rs 5000, may be lesser. But it was a strange feeling of elation for me. On the one hand I was working in films for the first time and on top of that was the opportunity of working with Abbas saab. Everybody knew Abbas saab in those days and the films he used to make. He had a column on the last page of Blitz newspaper which I used to read regularly. His way of life, his vision and his philosophy was totally different from the rest. He had a socialist bent of mind and always thought about the aam aadmi. His life was also based on his beliefs and philosophy. He didn't live in luxury and talk about the common man. He lived his philosophy. He was an unbelievable personality and had a modest way of living.
Even when he was making the film, he behaved very normally. He never made anybody feel like a star by giving them special treatment. We had to go to Goa for the shoot and traveled by third class. Wherever we went, we traveled in small public buses. We stayed in government circuit houses, in the same room. There was no electricity and had lanterns with us. We would all lie on the floor - on one side was Abbas saab and on the other, my lightman. I was very influenced by his way of thought – that everybody is equal.
Ayaz: There was a period of struggle after Saat Hindustani…
Bachchan: I feel that everybody who comes to work here goes through that period. We shouldn’t blame anybody for this. You put a lot of money into a film. When you don’t know me, you have never seen my work, how can you suddenly give me a job in your film? This is a process that you'll have to go through. But things get better when you get small roles in other films and people start talking about you. Like after Saat Hindustani, Dutt saab took me in Reshma Aur Shera. I had a small role…of a dumb man. Abbas Saab introduced me to Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Hrishida said, ‘okay, I will give you a role in Anand’. Side-by-side, a film called Parwana was also being made. I worked in it with Om Prakashji. He liked my work and also spoke about me to some more people. In this way, people started to get to know me and one day, Salim-Javed came to me and told me they had a story for me - listen to it and work with us.
Ayaz: Fightbacks has been a recurring thing in your life. Be it your personal life, your career, your health, there is a kind of resilience that defines you.
Bachchan: When people look at it from the outside, it seems I am very resilient or that I fight back but there’s nothing like that (laughs). It’s been God’s grace and nothing more. I have always been optimistic and never allowed myself to get disheartened by any defeat. Carry on with your work and something good will surely happen to you along the way. I have been lucky and God has been kind to me.
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