Big B’s charm stuns Cambridge dons

Kaveri Gill

CAMBRIDGE: On a beautiful September afternoon, with a watery sun bathing the 17th century buildings of St Catharine’s College in Cambridge, a megastar stepped into the quadrangle and took a short walk through the college and the rooms of various eminent fellows.

On the same afternoon — now, as a nostalgic son — he took a long walk down memory lane, tracing his father’s journey to the university town in 1952, his time as a PhD student at the college, and his legacy as one of the finest poets of his generation.

Amitabh Bachchan had just finished shooting a film with his son Abhishek in London and had come to mark Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s pre-centenary celebrations at the invitation of St Catharine’s College.

There are moments when different worlds collide, sometimes seamlessly. This visit provoked numerous such instances. The first occurred a week before the visit, when a friend and fellow of the college invited me to lunch. We were discussing Amitabh’s forthcoming visit in hushed tones — the event was kept secret so as not to attract huge crowds.

I was being quizzed about the star himself, when, suddenly, a fellow who specialises in modern European history treated us to an impromptu and highly skilled rendition of the Sholay theme song! He later confessed to a great love of Indian cinema.

The second instance was when arguably the most charismatic movie star on the planet stepped into the cloistered world of an ancient university to honour his father’s memory, and charmed the socks off everyone present, from the crustiest academic loner to the youngest wannabe intellectual.

Amitabh recalled how he and his brother, after being away for two years from their father while he completed his PhD, eagerly awaited his return, and the presents he would bring back from England. But Bachchan returned empty handed, saying he had little money to spend on presents.

Incidentally, during his England stint, Bachhan rang in to talk to his family only once because of the high cost of international calls in those days. To receive the call, the boys had to furiously pedal to a friend’s house because they did not own a phone. But Bachhan brought back from England the most precious gift, one that perhaps gives an insight into the hardworking ethic imbibed by successive generations — seven drafts of his thesis, handwritten in pencil, which the family still counts amongst its most prized possessions!

Amitabh also recounted how in that romantic age his father would follow their new pursuits through letters, and then send them books on the subject. So when Amitabh took up boxing and complained about the bruises and knocks he had endured, Bachchan sent him a volume on the history of boxing in England, with the quote, paraphrased here: “A good few knocks are a delight to the brain”!

The actor answered questions on his father’s works, Bhojpuri movies, poetry and translation, Allahabad and Abhishek, parents and life. For the world of Cambridge University, it was love at first sight. I discovered the meaning of ‘star-struck’ in an afternoon.

(Dr Kaveri Gill is a research fellow at the Centre of South Asian Studies and Queens' College.)