The day has just ended. Or has it started.. The shooting was exhausting and strenuous. Several scenes had to be completed to keep the schedule in tact and so we just went on working till past midnight.

Herewith first an interview I recently did for The Mint. And no the intention of posting this is not to point fingers at the media for distortion, but indeed to tell you that there are still some in the tribe that adhere to protocol and ethics. Mint printed what it got in its entirety, without any hidden agenda -

This is how it went…

You’ve recently been honoured with the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum. This award pays tribute to the role of arts and culture in creation of global understanding and peace. How does this award and the honour motivate you? How better can Indian films and actors create global understanding and peace?

ANS//

Cinema is a great integrator. It has always been a catalyst in subscribing to the concept of ?same emotions to humans from diverse cultures?. We laugh at the same jokes, we sing and dance at the same songs, we cry at the same emotion, as we sit together in the darkened hall of a cinema theatre. We do not question the caste, creed or colour of the person sitting next to us. There can be no better example of togetherness and understanding, in this fast deteriorating world of hate and divisiveness, than this. I take pride in the fact that I belong to a fraternity that propagates and indulges in such integration.

An award is a personal or collective recognition towards an individuals contribution in his or her field of activity. Any kind of recognition will always be a motivator for betterment of the individuals vocation. The Crystal Award to me is a recognition of Indian Cinema and India, rather than my individual contribution. I accept it with great humility and thankfulness. I shall not crave for an Award, for I believe my greatest award is the love affection and support of the millions that see my work and acknowledge it.

2) You have spent 40 remarkable years in our film industry. How do you look back at your journey? What according to you are the most important landmarks?

ANS//

Metaphorically I would not want to look back but look ahead. To tomorrow and hopefully the many more tomorrows to come. But 40 years is two thirds of my life of 67. Take 18 years away from it for the mandatory period of growing up and education and you have 49 left. Of the 49, 40 to film. That?s over 90% .

I must perforce look at it with great love and nostalgia. If I have been in a profession for that long without any regret and remorse, it must obviously mean much to me. It has been all encompassing and all consuming. Everyday of which has been a significant landmark.

3) Any regrets or setbacks that you have learnt from?

ANS//

None. Every setback has been an education to learn from. Every success, though modest, has been a motivator to improve.

4) If you were to be a critic, how would you assess your body of work?

ANS//

Mediocre ! I have had the privilege though to have been in the company of some of the great directors and actors of my profession, who have truly been masters. I doubt I ever lived up to their expectations. It was their generosity to have tolerated my incompetence. I strive to improve every day.

5) How do you take criticism? Recently you were criticized for accusing the makers of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ of portraying India in a poor light. Now and then, some critics have even been malicious against you. What is your immediate reaction when you read or hear such criticism and how do you deal with it?

ANS//

The criticism on my accusation towards the film SM was mischievous and misdirected. The remarks from others on my blog were dubiously taken as min e and I was castigated for it and continue to be. This is uncalled for. I never made any remark on the film or its content as has been portrayed by the media. However I spoke to Mr Danny Boyle, the director of the film and Mr Anil Kapoor and clarified that, so any further comment either from the media or anyone else in this regard, is neither desired nor relevant.

Critics of cinema are appointed to give comment on cinema and its creative content. It is their constitutional right of freedom of expression. I look upon criticism as a means to learn from the mistakes pointed out by them. And graciously thank those that appreciate.

There are other kinds of criticism that celebrities invite. This is part of the terrain that we occupy. We learn to live with it. If there is discrepancy we try to correct it, if there is truth we accept it and move on.

6) You have done all kinds of roles and all kinds of cinema. An an actor and artiste, what is that one sensibility or worldview that defines Amitabh Bachchan?

ANS//

My sensibilities and world view on the kind of roles I play and the kind of cinema I do is based on the views and sensibilities of the makers I work with. They have always made films keeping in mind the basic ethos of our land our culture and the norms, within which our administration through the Censor Board, specifies. Some basics being good to prevail over evil, poetic justice, adherence to the guidelines of our Constitution.

7) What next? Are you taking it easier now, after your illness last year?

ANS//

I am working in 4 films right now and am in talks with others for some more. Taking it easy is a relative term. What may seem easy to you may not be the same for me and vice versa.

What’s the role that you have always wanted to play and why?

ANS//

I play what is offered to me and play it to the best of my capability and understanding and acumen.

9) India will soon be going through another general elections. According to you, ahat is the single most pressing issue that politicians need to pay attention to in our country? Can India have its own Barack Obama?

ANS//

I am not a politician and most certainly do not possess the desired knowledge to be able to direct my attention towards them and their profession, with regard to what they need to be doing for the country. They are representatives of the people through a democratic process and should perform accordingly.

10) Tell us something about the roles we’ll see you in in the near future? Are you shooting for a film now?

ANS//

I have just finished ?Aladin? by Sujoy Ghosh and am shooting for ?Johhny Mastana?, ?Teen Patti? and three more to go on the floors by the end of the month - ?Pa? and 2 others. A genie in Aladin. A math professor in TP and a husband in JM..

11) Tell us about your five favourite movies, five favourite books and five favourite co-stars of all time.

12) Five young/emerging directors whose work you look forward to?

ANS//

Very exhaustive question. All the films I have worked in are my favourite as are my co-stars. And so too the emerging directors.

And this ladies and gentlemen of the jury is how they printed it. Pure, unadulterated and without any corruption. The way it should be in print ethics. Thank you Mint and Sanjukta, the journalist that conducted this interview.

I shall always respect professional correctness and the above all falls into the category. Many among you had mentioned that perhaps my stand was too harsh and rigid. I must look at the media with compassion. But of course I do and shall continue to do so. But when deliberate and malicious intent is so visibly apparent, I feel it my bounden duty to clarify and rectify it in my own way. Which is why this..

I did another one for a Kolkata journalist, who writes for the net. This is what it went like -

1. Many congratulations on completing 40 years in the film industry. Now, if you were a journalist and asked to do a profile on Amitabh Bachchan, what would the headline be?
   

ANS//
You are finding an easy way out for a job that rightfully should be your responsibility. Let me be the actor for the time being and let me not be subjected to this ordeal of finding a suitable headline for you. I never have clamoured for one and it is very unlikely that even if I were to get bizarrely creative I would ever be able to find one !

2. You broke the notion of a conventional Hindi film hero starting a new trend. Was that a conscious effort on your part?

ANS//
The only conscious effort I was making at the time you talk of was to find a job in the film Industry. If at all any conscious effort was being made it must have been with the makers and writers of the films at that time. I have never worked with any preconceived notion and never will. What attracts me to a film is the role that I play and the people that I work with.

3. A National award to start with after Saat Hindustani, but still you had to struggle a lot to cement your place in the industry. How was it?

ANS//
Firstly, National Awards are no guarantees for a job and secondly, struggle is an integral part of human existence. So long as there is life there is struggle. My Father gave me this wise advice very early in my life.

4. Do you remember your first shot in films? Please tell us through it.

ANS//
Yes I do. It was for the film ‘Saat Hindustani’ made by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas. It was shot in a primary school somewhere in Central Bombay, then. I had to enter frame from a sitting position and introduce myself, the character that I played in the film.

5. Stardom or an actor of substance…which was more important to you in the beginning of your career?

ANS//
I hope and wish that people may remember me as an actor of substance, despite all my mediocre merits. Stardom is a peripheral, almost metaphorical term, a construct of the medium. It has never had any place of importance in my career ever.

6. Zanjeer, Abhimaan, Deewar — people talk of these three films as the ones which turned things around for you, but according to you which was the film that actually marked the entry of AMITABH BACHCHAN into the big league?

ANS//
I do not know what your perception of ‘big league’ is. I am also unaware that such leagues exist. My work and the medium and the fraternity and the profession are what I associate myself with. All else is immaterial as far as my work is concerned.

7. Star rivalry is something that is age old in the film industry. In retrospect, how do you view the rivalry during your time? To add to it, there were some contemporaries who were not exactly friends with you, yet you have had a great rapport with them on screen. How difficult was it to get along on the sets?

ANS//
Healthy rivalry should be the norm in all professional exigencies. I have worked and believed in that. I do not and have not believed in unhealthy relationships during my entire career or my life and I intend to stick by that norm. Rapport amongst colleagues is an essentiality. Else the product suffers. I have endeavoured at every step that the product that I am associated with never suffers.

8. In fact, when some actors claimed that they stole the show from you (you know whom I am referring to), how did you react?

ANS//
I do not know who you are referring to and it does not interest me to know either. You can steal material belongings of mine, but how does one steal a persons creativity, his soul. I would like to believe that the performance of any artist manifests itself through the compliance of his/her soul. And I believe that that soul can belong to just one person – the one that creates it. That can never be stolen or destroyed or lost.

9. People talk of variety, but if there is one actor who was constantly shuttling between genres, it has to be you — Zanjeer, Abhimaan, Chupke Chupke, Deewar, Don, Amar Akbar Anthony, Kabhie Kabhie — how challenging was it to adjust?

ANS//
If I consider myself to be a professional, then it is my prerogative to be able to do justice to whatever is on offer to me. Variety is an actor’s necessary and essential armament. Without them in my scabbard I would feel defenceless and vulnerable – a state no actor would ever want to be in. Every artist should have the ability to be able to pull out this sword, when challenged.

10. You shared great on-screen rapport with some of the most versatile leading ladies in the film industry — Jaya Bachchan, Rekha, Parveen Babi, Rakhee, Hema Malini and Zeenat Aman — how would you compare them when it came to on-screen versatility?

ANS//
They were and are all accomplished artists, each one of them and each one having distinct qualities. All artists are versatile, or at least should claim to be, however it does become difficult to imagine replacements to those that have already excelled themselves in a particular creation. It would be difficult to imagine, now, Zeenat Aman in Guddi, as you would Jaya in ‘Dum maro Dum’.

11. Which was the toughest phase of you career? Will that be the comeback after the Coolie accident or after quitting politics or when you silenced your critics with Mohabbatein and KBC?

ANS//
Every day is a struggle, every day tough. It was when I started, it is even today.

12. Forty years is a long time — how has the industry changed over this period if we are to categorise it into phases?

ANS//
This would require a long debate and reaction and there is no space in this interview for that. But primarily, phases in creativity change, or let us say evolve, with the times. If you can claim that time has changed, then you may safely say that society and all that it carries with it will undergo some change. Speed of communication, fresh inventions, greater technology and newer mediums will affect our thinking process and our lives. This in itself is sufficient to bring creative change. The way we make films, its content, its language, its presentation, its sale its marketing all of it has been through phased changes.

13. Honestly speaking, there are some films which your fans wish you had not done — Toofan, Jaadugar, Lal Badshah, Insaaniyat, to mention a few. Your take…

ANS//
I will never challenge the wishes of my fans. I will respect them. But I shall also respect my association with all the above mentioned films. No one deliberately sets out to make a bad film. There is sincerity in effort and labour that goes into making a product. Some work, some do not. We accept, we learn and move on.

14. You have worked with generations of actors and directors. What is the perceptible change that you notice in the current lot vis-à-vis the yesteryear makers and actors?

ANS//
Speed. Speed of thought and action. Of perception and execution and of the desire to excel to challenge world standards.

15. As a Bengali, I wonder why the Amitabh Bachchan-Satyajit Ray and Amitabh Bachchan-Mrinal Sen magic never saw the light of the day on screen. Yes you have done voiceovers in their films, but seeing you being directed by them would have been an absolute delight. Your take.

ANS//
I could not agree with you more.

16. Twenty years from now, where do you see our film industry going?

ANS//
To continue to rule, as it does in most aspects now. To reach wider recognition in regions beyond our shores and to maintain its unique intrinsic qualities – our Indian ethos.

17. How would you view your relationship with the media during these forty years?

ANS//
One of deep respect. A respect for the integrity and value of their profession and theirs for mine. A respect that has remained aloof from abject servility on both our parts. They have never hesitated to show me a mirror and neither have I. Any relationship that shall give credence to this can only be looked upon with grace and dignity and utmost civility.

18. Finally, all set to complete a half-century, Sir?

ANS//
If it is ordained, yes !

Inspired by Karan Johar, here are a few rapid fire questions:
Three roles you will always be proud of:
Three films that you thought were not given their due:
Three directors you shard the best rapport with:
Three actors you would love to work with:
RD Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Bappi Lahiri — your favourite:
If Abhimaan is to be remade, whom would you like to see essaying the leading roles?
Three of your most favourite heroes of the current era
Three ladies among the current lot you would have loved to romance on screen:
Worst criticism:
Shahenshah, Star of the Millennium, Big B, The greatest —give yourself a crown:
A biopic on Amitabh Bachchan — who should play your role?

ANS//
I shall respectfully withdraw from this contest, thank you very much !!

Sanju, Sanjay Dutt dropped in at the sets today. He too was shooting in adjoining floor and we spent a good amount of time catching up. At the rate it is going, there could be a possibility of most of the Industry dropping by to the sets of PAA..

The stress quotient will be pretty high considering our working hours, but working in a constrained budget and working to excel causes a great amount of anxiety. But when ever did anyone achieve anything without anxiety.

Right now I do not have any idea what is being typed. I need to get out of PAA and into the spa of rest relaxation and calm..

More tomorrow..

Amitabh Bachchan