Abhishek Bachchan, up,close and personal!

Actor Abhishek Bachchan talks about life post fatherhood and discusses films on his visit to DNA.

All your co-stars think that you are great entertainment...
I like to believe that I am an actor, so I should be entertaining.

What’s with the two fingers bandaged?
This is called a buddy bandage. I fractured my ring finger and I tore a ligament. The fracture has healed, but the ligament has not. It’s a very common sport injury. You will see all the cricketers are all taped up like this.

You have been one of the biggest fans of (actor-singer) Dhanush’s Kolaveri Di. What do you think of (lyricist) Javed Akhtar’s comment about the song?
I don’t think he said it was not a great work, because it’s not Javed uncle’s language. Fair enough. I think at the end of the day he is an authority on lyrics. He is one of the best lyrics writer we ever had... so obviously he knows what he is talking about. I can’t refute what he said. But having said that, I think if you hear the song they say it from the start that it is a ‘flop song’ and I don’t think they were attempting to make poetry out of it. I think the idea was to be able to relate.

Is there a collaboration with Dhanush on the cards?
On the song? No not at all.

Is there any role that you want to do?
I am the worst person to ask this question. I will never manage to answer what’s my ‘dream role’.

Is there any kind of approach to acting you follow: spontaneous or method, or do you just go with the flow?
Can I give you a master class? I am not trying to be arrogant about this, but I think there is a huge misconception about acting. The debate between spontaneity and method. I studied the method in school okay, the basic funda of the method is basically somebody came to you and said that you are an actor, teach me acting. You can’t teach acting, it’s not something that is put into words. That’s basically my interpretation. Method acting is getting into the skin of the character... every individual actor has their own approach. Somebody believes in getting into the entire mindset of the character and living that character 24 hours a day, another actor might not be comfortable with that. They might understand the world from where the character comes and can complete fabricate it from the word go. So you know acting needs to look spontaneous, it should not look efforted, I believe. So it all depends on the style. Do you like theatrical style, which is fine, do you like more spontaneous casual style, that’s fine. But the method is basically the system that tells you how it’s done. I remember there was this great interview by Alec Guinness, who is one of my favourite actors, he did a great war film called The Bridge on the River Kwai. At the end, he shot one of his own by mistake and he goes out shaking in shock and fear like ‘what have I done by mistake’. So he was asked what were you thinking to evoke that emotion. So he said that in the morning, he had a really cold shower and he was freezing — and he thought about that! It can just be anything. Personally, the style I like is something that comes across as real. I work towards making it very casual and real. I tend to lean more towards that, than making it perfect. There is a way to say a dialogue, but I like it when I go against that. I think today’s generation will get that, but I don’t think the older generation will, because they have been brought up in a particular style. I remember when Brando (actor Marlon Brando) came out in A Street Car Named Desire. People were used to correct pronunciation, enunciation with Richard Burton with his wonderful performances and suddenly came this guy, terribly good looking, brilliant actor, but he mumbled.

Hindi cinema by nature is very dramatic, it’s melodramatic because that’s the kind of culture we are. We like things that are slightly over-the-top and I would like to do films where you can downplay that. I think it’s brilliant when in a year you have movies like Ready, Bodyguard, Singham, which are classic masala pot boiler Hindi films, at the same time there’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which was completely the opposite and tried to completely deconstruct what the audience has grown up to love and it works.

How good an actor do you consider yourself?
Five-and-a-half, six (on ten). Having said that I think I can improve my language a lot more.

After doing movies like Raavan and Guru where you really need to work on the character, is it more comfortable playing characters like those in Players?
No not at all. Even if you’re are sitting and chatting,  you are still thinking about the scene. That subconsciously still goes on in everything that you do.

I have done a lot of intense work over the last few years. 2008 was the last when I did a comedy film. Delhi 6 was intense, then Paa which was a very disturbing film for me to do. Then Raavan and Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se, Dum Maaro Dum. They all are intense pieces. Now, I just wanted to have fun. Players wasn’t an intense film, it was out there commercial, but that doesn’t mean I worked less... it’s a different mind frame. Then we will do Bol Bachchan which is an out-and-out comedy. It’s actually the toughest of the lot, it exhausts you.

Do you have any plans for Hollywood?
No. I think if you want to go, you have to be pro-active about it and nothing is wrong in that. But as of now I am very happy with my work and very busy. There have been many scripts in the past, but for some reason or the other I have not been able to do them. If there is a script I enjoy then why not. It’s a different language that’s it... it’s like doing a Tamil film or a Bengali film.

Hrithik (actor Hrithik Roshan) is now doing a remake of your father’s film Agneepath...
I would like to see what they have done with the film. It’s one of my favourite films. I think it is one of the most iconic films made in the last 20 years. It’s definitely a film which is alive in everyone’s memory, so it will be interesting to see what they have done with it.

Did that role come to you?
No.

But would you have liked to play the role if it had?
No.

If you had to do any remake of your father’s films, which one would you choose?
I will do a remake if I have something to add to that. He has done everything with it, I can’t come up with any newer way of presenting that.

Can that be sometimes limiting, because you are conscious that you are his son?
No, absolutely not! That has nothing to do with that. There is not one film that I haven’t enacted of his in my childhood (laughs), that’s the effect he had on you as an actor. I never thought about remaking it.

There are rumours about Chupke Chupke remake with you and (actor) Bobby Deol...
No, that’s not true.

Do you plan to direct a film or produce?
I have produced two films. We produced a Marathi film Vihir, last year and now we are in the process of making a Gujarati film. That’s something my mother handles. We produced television shows as well, long time ago under a different banner then.

Direction is something I am not qualified for; there is a technical aspect to it which I have to learn. I don’t think it’s correct to say never, but I don’t see it in the near future.

What about television?
We were very keen on Bingo Season 2, but I just haven’t take time off for it. I have been busy with my back-to-back films. I don’t have time to do it, but I would love to do television again.

Would you like to host Kaun Banega Crorepati?
No, I was asked to do KBC in 2000 actually. They were doing a Junior KBC for kids, they wanted me to do it, but I wasn’t prepared for it. I don’t think I will do justice to it. I think dad is the best at it, so let him do it.

Are you superstitious?
No, touchwood! (Laughs). It’s like saying, ‘Thank God, I’m not an aetheist’! I don’t get into astrology, superstition and all, because I don’t understand it.
 
How was it like doing the car chase sequences in Players?
I was shooting Dhoom and Amin was the action director. We wanted to do something with cars and were discussing The Italian Job. It was one of the coolest film to watch when I was growing up. Michael Caine was just like a king in that film. So we thought that in India if we do the film instead of the minis, we can do it with rickshaws. It was great. I always wanted to do a film which had a lot of car work in it.

Is it the official remake of The Italian Job?
Yes, we bought the rights of the film.

As a producer is there any film that you want to acquire the rights off?
No, we are not really looking into that right now. We are focused on a new film thats coming next year end with me and dad in it and is directed by a new director called Amit Sharma, so we are in that space now.

Do you plan to sing in any upcoming film?
I sang in Players, unfortunately I don’t like the way I sound. Rapping, I am okay with, I am not comfortable with singing. Athough when I was a kid I was in the choir. I was a choir boy for seven years in boarding school.

How was it working with Sonam in Players?
Sonam in Players was different. We have worked together in Delhi 6, which was a completely different film. So to see Sonam in this glam avatar... she is very, very sweet... I like working with her, she is full entertainment.