JUST BACK FROM the STARDUST AWARDS… AND…. YOURS TRULY… HAS WON… BEST ACTOR FOR ‘LAST LEAR’…

I AM SOOO.. HAPPY FOR THE MAKERS AND THE DIRECTOR - PLANMAN AND RITUPARNO GHOSH, FOR THE FAITH IN THE FILM AND THE COURAGE TO MAKE SOMETHING AWAY FROM THE NORM…

Also I cannot but get a bit nostalgic. Its the 15th of February 2009. On the 15th of February 1969, today, 40 years ago, I signed my first film Saat Hindustani and entered the film industry.

40 years !! Been a while. Struggles and uncertainties, successes and disappointments, accusations and controversies, ill health and months in hospital, all such a vivid kaleidoscope of moments, events, images.. simply unbelievable and unimaginable….

Thank you producers and directors, colleagues and friends, workers and technicians for all that you did in making it possible for me to be here today. But… most importantly… you the fans and well wishers and friends… thank you for continuously being supportive and strong with me throughout this long and tenuous journey. You made me what I am and shall continue to make me every day that I endeavor to live up to your expectations.

Coming back home is pleasurable. But miss the presence of Abhishek, who as I write has just landed in New York for the screening of ‘Delhi 6′. He has been on a long non stop flight and has to drive straight for the show, but thanks to the modernization of facilities on aircrafts these days, he was able to text me from the air at 38,414 feet to say he had his first mid air shower !! Emirates does carry a wonderful reputation of excellence in the air !!

The drive from KK to Trivandrum was peaceful and without blemish and the flight though a bit rough - the heat causing thermals to rise steeply to some turbulence - was pleasant. Shanuk, looked odd and puzzled -

“Didn’t you just come back a few days ago from… and now you’re back again.. oh.. ok..”, is what I guess he muttered as he vigorously shook his long tail and cocked his ears and head to one end.

It was Sunday. And Sunday evening is ‘darshan’ at the gates of Jalsa. Hundreds of visitors and fans turn up by about 6 in the evening and I open the gates and go out and meet them. A practice that has not stopped from the 1982 accident on ‘Coolie’. Endearing and compassionate and so full of love. I wonder what I may have done to receive such adulation and with such consistency.

At the Award ceremony it was wonderful to see so many colleagues and familiar faces. If nothing else these occasions do bring the fraternity together in happiness and joy. Nari Hira, the owner of Stardust and many other prominent publications, has been a pioneer in many aspects of film journalism. We may not have agreed on several issues and we may have disconnected ourselves through the years, but I have to say he has remained a friend and a gentleman throughout. He told me he had seen ‘Lear’ twice over and could narrate every scene in the film and was happy that the jury chose to acknowledge a film that may not have been mainstream. Stardust has always rewarded areas that have been either ignored or not brought up for consideration, and that is what is different about them in comparison with some of the other ceremonies.

I must retire now to regain strength from the strain of KK. So its back to the gym and the diet and the ‘pranayaam’ in the morning..

Its going to get all rushed and busy again and I wonder if it shall affect the mind, still steeped in the peace and solitude of the three seas of Southern India.. We shall find out tomorrow…

Love as always and more..

Amitabh Bachchan