An interview below. Had not done this in a long time. This from Sandeep Bamzai, husband to Kaveri Bamzai, of India Today fame. She covers films, writes reviews and goes on TV to give her opinion on the new releases. Important person. Cannot dare to disappoint her husband. Could go a long way in getting favorable review. Many fresh releases in the coming days. Protocol must be right. Ha ! ha ! Just kidding -

>> *why did you choose bigg boss over any other vehicle after KBC, i am
>> sure other people must have queued up before your door with other
>> projects?
>
>
> ANS//
> I shall not deny that there were other offers to do TV, but most of them were
> either in stages of preparation and design, or ones that I could not find time
> and inclination for. BiggBoss did and so I agreed.
>>
>> *the fact that you will play a psycho anlayst for the residents, did
>> that have anything to do with the decision when you considered the
>> offer?
>
>
> ANS//
> The whole idea of the ‘pop philosopher’ was something that I initiated during
> my several meetings with COLORS. I thought it to be very interesting to
> examine why people behave the way they do when subjected to extreme
> circumstances. If this were to be assessed and fed back to them, what would be
> the result. Would they come out as better humans, would we be able to project
> that to a larger section of the viewership. Could we then expect a better
> understanding of conduct. Just so many thoughts came to us during our creative
> meetings. That is what we intend to incorporate in some ways in the show. I
> know it has a very strict format, one that shall not be subjected to change,
> but if within that we could bring about some elements of introspection, it
> would be exciting to pursue.
>>
>> *what according to you is driving big stars to television, you opened
>> the door for them? don’t you think salman khan has found his metier in
>> dus ka dum and similarly akshay in fear factor?
>
>
> ANS//
> I have no idea why big stars are driving to TV studios. I know why I did and
> that is now a well documented fact. I would agree with you that both Salman
> and Akshay seem to have found their metier in their respective shows. TV gives
> the viewer an opportunity to see their stars that they love, in modes when
> they do not play a character. They are themselves and they are for real. And
> what they discover as real, is becoming attractive to them.
>>
>> *How much did KBC help you vis a vis your own career? was it an
>> important event in an actor’s journey of now exactly 40 years?
>
>
> ANS//
> I have never looked upon any incident in my career with the kind of
> perspective you suggest. But yes having got an opportunity to try another form
> of entertainment has been a rewarding experience. It all adds up. As an actor
> in films, I look upon my TV involvement with delight and do give it relevant
> importance.
>>
>> *as a performer how would you differentiate between the two mediums?
>> Given that you have been outstandingly successful on both…
>
>
> ANS//
> I cannot say that I have been outstandingly successful in both mediums, but
> yes a certain amount of audience acceptance has prevailed for both entities.
> Cinema has the benefit of building a world around you, in TV its quite the
> opposite - you have to build your own world. Both have limitations of script
> and format, but also give you sufficient liberty to improvise. TV is almost
> always instant and within time constraints ; the medium demands that. Cinema
> is not so rigid as far as time constraints are concerned, barring a few
> exceptional cases. Cinema has a longer life. TV more immediate and on some
> enacted content, perhaps a greater shelf life. TV gets to you on its own in
> your bedroom. For cinema you have to do a little more - on occasion.
> Creatively they both are equally challenging. For me TV was more. Having to
> construct your own lines without assistance as in cinema can become a daunting
> task. Cinema gives you the benefit of being associated with something larger
> than life ; the 70 mm screen does that for you. In TV the size has its
> limitations and I wonder if that has repercussions on your largeness. But all
> in all both mediums are an absolute joy to be connected with and I consider
> myself fortunate to have been given the opportunity to bridge this gap, albeit
> somewhat shakily.
>>
>> *for a long time we have missed you on the big screen, what is next Pa
>> or Alladin or Rann…why this absence?
>
>
> ANS//
> Film schedules and releases for distribution have a life of their own. We do
> not control it. A lot of films have been completed and ready for some time
> now. It is quite probable that they have not got the requisite buyers or there
> are problems for their distribution. We have as you may know, been through a
> bit of a struggle between the Producers and the Distributors and Exhibitors
> especially those that own multi-plexes, on commercial matters. Now that there
> is some resolution on that, a huge backlog of films waits in a queue. All the
> three films that you mention are ready for release technically. I think the
> dates are being worked out. There are a huge lot of films that have large
> investments and even larger star casts. They all need to be marketed and given
> attention to before they go out. Important days and festivals and holidays
> attract producers interest for release time. That needs respect and planning.
> I cannot say for sure, but as far as my reckoning goes, Aladin shall come
> first, then Paa and then Rann - and all of them within the next few months of
> the remaining year 2009. This is not good strategy, but one that is now
> unavoidable due to prevailing circumstances.
>>
>> *during your peak years, do you reckon you got a little typecast with
>> the Prakash mehra, manmohan desai formula films? do you reckon now
>> there is more scope to experiment now - black, sarkar, sarkar raj,
>> nishabd, cheeni kum and so many others
>
>
> ANS//
> There are no ‘peak’ years in an artists life ; just years !
> I disagree first with the assumption that Prakash Mehra, ManMohan Desai films
> were type casted formula films. Zanjeer was no where near in type to a Sharabi
> and neither was an Amar Akbar Anthony to a Mard. And then with every Zanjeer,
> there was an Abhimaan, with every Amar Akbar Anthony a Mili or Chupke Chupke.
> The scope of experiment that you refer to now, is more the result of age and
> the passage of time, than lack of opportunity or the desire for it. At 35 it
> would not have been possible for me to do a Black or a Sarkar, neither would I
> at 65, been comfortable with Lawaris, Muquaddar ka Sikander and Don.
>>
>> *whi is hindi cinema more cerebral now, what has changed, how is it
>> that movies like black, maqbool, new york, kaminey, fashion are being
>> accepted…
>
>
> ANS//
> The nation has grown. Globalisation, exposure and connect with the rest of the
> world through technology, liberalisation both economic and cultural, has made
> the common man a little less common. Today’s Indian is more aware and greatly
> more informed. And I would put the onus of this on the advent of television in
> our country. No where in the universe has the growth of this medium been as
> rapid or as vast as it has in India. And it hasn’t stopped. With the
> brilliance of a diverse and at times better valued content from all over the
> world, the people have a choice they never had before. This has made them more
> discerning and the job of film makers more challenging. A great many more
> Indians travel the world and see and understand the accomplishments of
> developed nations. It broadens their outlook and in turn their minds. India
> today is looked and bracketed with the very best there is. Being more cerebral
> now is a misguided statement. We always were. Its just that now we have got
> occasion and opportunity for it to be noticed and recognised.
>>
>> *in an actor’s evolutionary journey, there are many defining moments,
>> which movies or performances do you believe were such events in your
>> own case?
>
>
> ANS//
> Each film has added to my evolution and shall continue to do so. Creativity
> would be stunted if it was denied the process of evolution.
>>
>> *how would you describe hindi cinema today - 40 years after Saat
>> Hindustani - vibrant and eclectic…
>
>
> ANS//
> With each passing year in these fortunate 40 years of my Hindi Cinema
> existence, I have observed with great pride the vibrancy and the eclectic
> nature of our Industry, grow. They were exciting then when I began, they are
> exciting now and shall continue to be exciting in the future. The way the
> world moves now, shall ensure that.
>>

I am grateful for the effusive reactions to the blog last night and the affection shown towards a wonderful human and a great film maker - Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Reacting to my blog on Jitesh Pillai from Filmfare and the matter about the press ban on me, Nina Arora a member of our FmXt had written a comment that questioned the details. Well not actually questioned them but gave her version of the story, since she is a prominent journalist and was one that had opportunity to know some of the discussed or rumored details during those times.

Since I was on a personal email and sms exchange level with her, I responded to her in that medium and in that capacity. She responded to my sms, by writing a comment on the blog. That comment I believe has been moderated, and as she informed me via sms, got ‘whooshed off’ ! She then sent me an email and expressed that a private response to a public utterance, was slimy. I reproduce below her email, to keep a sense of fairness -

Fortunately, I’d saved this comment. After I sms’d you, I checked the

blog and found it had whooshed off. I would have liked it to appear on

the blog in fairness to the fact that my earlier comment that you

found offensive had gone public. Private explanations after public

protestation sound slimy. But…not my fault that it vanished. Anyway,

here’s my reply and if you feel like putting it up, well, that’s upto

you.

Regards, regardless of…!

Nina.

September 15, 2009 at 3:57 pm

Your response to my comment on the press v/s Bachchans ban of ‘75 is…”Your take on the ban is undiluted nonsense.”
Then why didn’t you correct the misconceptions, slander, prejudice and bludgeoning heresay 3 decades ago?
OK, we know now, that was rhetoric.
My take is simple - the rest of the film press got sucked into what was primarily a Stardust- Bachchans war because they were told that the Bachchans had got print censorship imposed for the first time since 1947. Also, out of a sense of media-unity which was sadly lacking in the film industry. 99% of film stars squealed the minutes of that meeting in Dilip Kumar’s house the minute they reached the nearest phones. That’s it. I have no other ‘take’ on it. I became a journo in ‘76 and like a lot of other young journos, inherited the consequences and reasons, second hand.
My information has been distilled from archival documentation and the film industry - and I do take care to sift the chaff (malicious, envious rivals or gloating gossips)from the grain. Still, I concede that none of us will get all the details right simply because we are viewing it from the outside as well as hindsight.
So nobody but you can ever know what went on in your heart, in your mind, in your house, in your career and how keenly and deeply you suffered as a consequence. I am very glad that this blog allows you to tell it like it is, at last. And I will also gladly correct myself on any public platform available to me, without ego, embarrassment or retaliation. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to redress an injustice.
But this isn’t about me . It’s about you.
So, I reiterate, it is up to you to clear the air because everything gets archived for posterity.
….That last meeting with Hrishida…moving and revelatory too …because people have always thought that you had moved on after superstardom. It is only now through this blog that we know that the connect between you and PM, you and Hrishida…. remained on any emotional level long after their last “CUT!”
So blog on buddy. And don’t lose your temper with lesser beings while the masterminds get away scotfree with golden handshakes - because they can no longer afford to antagonize you.

( incidentally, PM is Prakash Mehra)

On the 14th of July at 7:19 PM, Nina Arora had sent me an sms -

World Best Msg.

GOD SAYS :

‘Tu karta woh hai jo TU chahta hai

Par hota woh hai jo MAIN chahta hun

Tu woh kar jo MAIN chahta hun

Phir woh hoga jo TU chahta hai’

‘You always do what you want to do, but what actually transpires is what I want.

You do that which I want, then what transpires will be what you want.’

Thank you NIna, I just did what you wanted to do.

Nina wishes to know why I never cleared the matter 3 decades ago ? Where do I clear it ? The press has banned me, and I them, so where do I go ? Screaming like a mad man on Juhu Beach ? Read some archival stuff on this issue. Down the years at every turn I have corrected this whole story not once but a million times after I lifted the press ban. This is one. But just because someone has made a wrongful accusation does not necessarily mean that it demands a clarification. If I am a public servant and you catch me traveling in business class when Government servants in keeping with the austerity drive in the country, are meant to be traveling economy, then yes ask for an explanation and demand a clarification. But if I am not one and am in business traveling on my own hard earned and tax paid money - money which goes to pay the salaries of public servants - then its no body’s business to ask me for an explanation !

I owe no explanation to anybody !!

And pray do tell us, in the ‘fairness’ of things, who these ‘masterminds that got away scotfree with golden handshakes’ are !!

Prasoon Joshi, that talented lyricist and a poet in his own right, and an add., world guru, was in Singapore and expressed a desire to meet my friend. I complied and we spent a pleasant evening with him talking on various topics of general interest. Before leaving he suggested that there should be an effort made to revive that old custom of ‘kavi sammelans’, poetic symposiums, where various poets would collect in the evenings to recite their creations and to have an appreciative audience listening in.

I have loved the idea and shall most certainly initiate this on getting back home. It would be nostalgia for me, having seen and been a part of many such evenings in our own home in Allahabad and Delhi, when literary minds would get together along with my Father and exchange thoughts ideas and yes, poetry.

I remember faintly our home at 17, Clive Road in Allahabad and the mid night ‘goshthi’s’ that would prevail. The group had titled a name to this gathering - Parimal. Many known and young writers and poets would come over at night to the house and for hours sit discuss, recite to a small committed gathering, my Mother serving gallons of tea and coffee throughout to them. Prominent among them was a young writer and poet, Dr Dharam Vir Bharati, who wrote some of the most contemporary novels of the time and poetry too. He became the Editor of Dharmyug, that Hindi monthly magazine that came out from the same stable as Madhuri and Filmfare of the Times Group. He remained close to my Father and treated him as an elder brother. His wife Pushpaji referring to my Mother as Bhabhi. Bharathi ji passed away suddenly some years ago and Pushpa ji remains in touch with us regularly. She was the one that had initiated the birthday anniversary of my Father at the Lincoln Centre in New York a couple of years back, when I had recited my Fathers works to a packed audience in their most prestigious Alice Tully Hall, an auditorium of exquisite dimensions and design. What a magnificent theatre. The acoustics, the seating all just so awe inspiring. I have a recording of it and hopefully shall put it up for the benefit of those that are lovers of poetry. What an evening !

Pushpa ji shared a most warm and affectionate relationship with my Mother and they would often exchange letters. In the more recent years after the passing away of my Mother, Pushpa ji continues to pull out old letters that they shared. She generously makes copies for me and I store them in my Mother’s room which still remains the way she left it.

At the ‘chautha’ the fourth day of her passing, I put up her hand written words from her letters as a back drop to the stage where the commemoration took place at Prateeksha. Her words remain with me and I shall share them with you on a suitable day.

Words… that is all that shall remain when we are gone .. speak and write them with care … posterity shall judge us on what we leave behind …

Amitabh Bachchan