Such a deliberation every evening ! And when there is a ‘home alone’ situation, its very welcome .. bring on the couch, put up the legs, get that ‘khus’ cooler, sparse dinner in front of the Tv and … Shanouk protection !!

The dubbing for ‘Aarakshan’ is over ! Wanted to go hell for leather today, worked at it from early morning and then rounded it up after a short break to finish the film. So thats the entire film over in 6 days ! It took 2 months to shoot it ! Movie making !

It now seems probable that ‘Bbuddah’ even though started its shot after the shoot for ‘Aarakshan’ was over, has finished before. And .. now is set to be released before ‘Aarakshan’ too. ‘Bbuddah’ on July 1st, ‘Aarakshan’ on August 12th, my Mother’s birthday ! Two films after a long gap and two very different roles and films. The first a dramatic, fun, film. The latter more intense, topical, and edgy, very sincere and touching, on a topic and subject which many talk of behind closed doors but never outside.

As an actor I feel elated that there is diversity on offer. When you are nearing 70 it does become scarce … the offers. But the challenge that comes by in the offering is immense. There is an opportunity of getting characters to play that may have been not too easy to play when you were younger. Or even if there was an opportunity, the commerce did not allow it.

There is a feeling at times that an actor needs to get an identification with the audience for him to be patronized by them. The audience at times wishes to form its own mind before it gets into the theatre. Perhaps when you surprise them they do not feel too kindly. So what happens to actors that wish to experiment with different genres during the course of their acting careers. I think the commerce becomes restrictive and more often than not actors not wishing to lose their viability or standing prefer to stay true to what worked before and continue to patronize it.

John Wayne, that icon of what American cinema was about, never got off his horse throughout his career. There are very few examples of actors that have played variety and never destroyed their commercial standing. But with age cinema does permit exceptions and they are fortunate that time does not destroy their viability. I think once you establish yourself, it does become a lot easier to change track. It is a risk, but then …

Maybe someday we should debate this with examples .. next time perhaps ..

An early night beckons and perhaps a lazy morning too, so I beg to be excused ..

Have a good night … and a better day

Amitabh Bachchan