Ayaz: This is your modesty….
Bachchan: Actors in those days were so natural. Woh baat nahin rahi. We still try to be natural like them. But with every passing day, we get new technology. Now with the camera and computer graphics, we look better and more beautiful. But look at Dilip saab, look at Raj saab, Motilal, Balraj Sahni – how they used to portray their roles so naturally.
Ayaz: Is there a role you wanted to do but never?
Bachchan: If I get a chance, I would want to do Ganga Jamuna. I used to wonder how Dilip saab, who used to stay in a city like Mumbai, could manage to speak the tongue and portray the body language of people in Uttar Pradesh...and he did it beautifully! Because I also hail from Uttar Pradesh, I could understand the nuance of the role and the character. Here is this man whom I watched in Devdas, Shaheed as a city dweller, and now he becomes a villager from Uttar Pradesh! I was startled.
Ayaz: There so many movies these days which immediately give out ads after their release saying the movie has earned so many crores… even a hundred crores…it has become so money oriented these days. How do you view this trend?
Bachchan: They do it this way today, in my time there used to be ads of silver jubilees, golden jubilees and diamond jubilees. That was the way to tell people that the movie has done so much business. Those days are over but the figures remain. Something has to be advertised so that people come to know a movie has done so well, so people are able to gauge the good business a film has done.
Ayaz: Are you still seeking more creative challenges in your life? You have everything - money, fame….
Bachchan: Ek chunauti pratidin milni chahiye. If there are challenges, we will accept it. I sometimes don’t know what needs to be done but yes, when the challenge comes in front of me, I know what to do. The few people who still want to work with me, if they seek out a new challenge for me, I will be happy.
Ayaz: You will be turning 67 on October 11…
Bachchan: I will be completing 67…
Ayaz: Yet you still feel very young at heart. You are writing a blog, you spoke about young directors… you are completely in sync with the New Age
Bachchan: It’s good that they want to work with me. And there always seem to be a character where I can fit in. So I'll thank them that they still want to work with me.
Ayaz: And there are contemporary roles also – say a Sexy Sam. Around 40 years back we wouldn’t have dreamt of these characters…
Bachchan: That was the way Karan Johar saw the character. Talking about new inventions like computers, mobiles…I don’t know much about them but I still try to learn how to operate them. These days, if you don’t know to operate them, your work doesn’t get done. Imagine how we lived forty years back without computers, without mobiles.
Ayaz: How do you react as a senior actor when you see people fighting in public.
Bachchan: So many people fight in public. We are spoken and written about because we are celebrities and public figures. A little disagreement or fights happen here and there. It’s never of primary importance to me.
Ayaz: You responded very strongly when it came to your family matters. Previously you were never so sensitive….
Bachchan: Family matters?
Ayaz: Say when Abhishek was getting married…
Bachchan: A girl is coming into my home - she is marrying my son and she is a daughter. Now if you write ulta seedha things about my daughter, any father will feel sad. I will try to take it for some time, but when I can’t take it anymore, I feel that being a father, I should give some clarifications and try to put these things to rest. It’s not because of the fact that Aishwarya is my daughter-in-law and Abhishek is my son. I beleive that there are lakhs like me in this city, in this country. It is no mean feat for a girl to leave her home and come into somebody else’s home. She has to leave her ma, papa and say ‘no, now this is my house they are also my parents’. It’s a massive change for a woman. We should admire and appreciate it. I felt the opposite was happening. Aur bahut aisi ashleel batein kahi ja rahin thi jiska mujhe dukh hua. So I thought I must speak up and clarify.
You guys wrote she is a manglik and was married off somewhere else before being married to Abhishek. All lies. If anybody has any proof of such a thing then bring them in front of me. Where is the tree she was married to? Where is that tree? You know everything but where is the proof? You guys got hold of some pandit and he said certain things. I have never asked my daughter-in-law to show her janampatri to me. My son said he loves her and she came and said she loves him. So I said ‘get married’. I have never believed in superstitions, caste, creed. My father never believed in all this. It makes no difference whether the person is a Hindu or a Muslim, a Brahmin or a Kshatriya.
Ayaz: Would you admit probably your biggest mistake was joining politics?
Bachchan: I would not say 'mistake'. Look, we were friends with the family from the time of my parents. Sarojini Naidu praised my dad and she used to like his work. She took him to meet Panditji. Then we became friends with the family, Indiraji and everyone. I thought that since a tragedy had befallen the family, we should stand by them. I was asked to contest the elections, so I contested. I have never been in politics and didn’t know anything it. But because my friend asked me, I did it. After entering politics I found that it’s not about fighting elections but a game. And I was not a good player - I could never play it well. Before I burdened the people who had chosen me to represent them with my own insufficiency, I thought I should leave this game. So I accepted defeat and bowed out.
Ayaz: It might have affected your friendship….
Bachchan: Nothing like that. We were always family friends and will always be.
Ayaz: Do you feel you are very loyal and would also like to get loyalty in return?
Bachchan: If you make a friend just thinking you'll have to give something and will get something in return, then I think you are not doing the right thing. We become friends because we like certain things about each other. When you give it a number or an expression, then that's not friendship. That’s a deal. When I consider somebody a friend, he is a friend. When I met Amar Singh, he was not where he is today. And neither was I. He has now become a member of my family. I consider him my brother and he considers me his. That is it.
Comments
