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Star-struck in Munnar

Amitabh Bachchan, the one-man entertainment industry, all rejuvenated, talks of his career and the current movie scene, as PREMA MANMADHAN listens

CAPTAIN COOL Amitabh Bachchan at Tea County, Munnar, where he is shooting for Ram Gopal Varma's `Nishabd' PHOTO: MAHESH HARILAL

Cool Munnar, with the hectic holiday crowds, has a big reason to celebrate this season: Big B is in town and for a whole month, shooting Ram Gopal Varma's `Nishabd'. Tea County, the hotel he stays in, has a lobby full of people in the morning and evening, waiting to have a glimpse of Amitabh Bachchan leaving or entering the place. He shoots in a bungalow 10 kms away.

"The subject of `Nishabd' is bold and a departure from Ram Gopal Varma's other movies like Gangster or Sarkar. It's not a long film, just two hours. There are no songs in it," he said, meeting The Hindu Metro Plus and Businessline, after a hard day's shoot, but fresh and in his trademark attire, shawl thrown around immaculate white pyjama-kurta. It was at his room-turned-gymnasium at the hotel, and his treadmill was on one side.

Changing tastes

Mr. Bachchan certainly was in his element, for he went into minute details of every question, from ABC, which has started making profits to the changing face of Indian cinema and audience tastes.

His shift from `angry young man' to diverse interesting roles was a natural one, `for a 65 year old,' and Mr. Bachchan refused to name any favourite movies. Instead, he preferred to go through his career in a nutshell, through the five generations of directors who have worked with him: "I've always tried to demarcate certain time spans within which prominent works were done, certain prominent associations were created and my very long, creative, committed association with Hrishikesh Mukherji. It's a pity that that kind of cinema is non-existent now. The largest number of films I did was with him. Whether it was `Abhimaan' or `Mili', `Chupke Chupke' or `Namak Haram', they were all very important films. Then came the days with Salim-Javed and Prakash Mehra, Manmohan Desai, Ramesh Sippy Yash Chopra. I did some wonderful work... `Deewar', `Amar Akbar Antony', `Sholay'. The generation after that was people like Mukul Anand, and Tinnu Anand who did films like `Agneepath', `Shahenshah' and fortunately, (working with) the generation after that, like Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra was good and now, I am happily, working with the new generation, full of a huge amount of energy, very creative, very aggressive, with tremendous attitude. The average age on the sets today is not more than 21."

Girls' entry

That girls were managing very important departments of filmmaking is a big change, he feels.

Parallel cinema was never a part his 120-film oeuvre. Why? "Nobody called me, that's why," he answers. But the West is coming round to taking the song-and-dance routine of Bollywood as worthwhile entertainment along with parallel cinema now.

"Yes, I have always thought that it was our USP, even when those very elements were looked upon as debasing and ridiculed and thought to be not aesthetic enough for western tastes... . And I have always believed that when a country does well, economically, everything about that country looks good. Its food tastes good, your dress is appreciated.." But `Page 3', `Black' and a few other movies which would have been bracketed within parallel cinema five years ago have done well, and that shows the change in tastes of the audience, he believes.

`Sholay's remake `excites him', and of Mohanlal, who has been cast from the south, Mr Bachchan says," He is one of the greatest actors of the country, it's a pity that the rest of India does not get to see him much because of the language problem."

The bitter memories of ABCL still haunt him, but he believes it was `not a flawed vision'. "It was because we could not manage it right. I would like to believe that the Miss World pageant was the best that was staged. Priyadarshan, who directed the show, took the concept of civilisations developing along riverbanks the world over. It was truly Indian, the whole event. But a lot of people missed that and there was a lot of controversy around it... " When it went into the red, he said many businessmen friends advised him to declare bankruptcy, as it was the normal thing to do. "But it was a company which bore my father's name. I needed to protect it and I was not comfortable facing people I owed money to. Happily, we have paid back everything we owe people and we are out of the red. ABC is a small company and yes, it has started making profits. Content is king. And content that is appreciated is from films. It forms 85 per cent of the content on TV. So we are making only films now... We are contemplating going public later," he said.

Switch on the TV and you see Big B endorsing all kinds of products, from chocolates, pens, soap powder to posh living spaces. Is there too much of him on such slots? He defended the decision of taking up too many endorsements of products, saying he was contracted to ABC and he was bound to do it.

All the money he earns, except from film acting, goes to ABC.

`Kaun Banega Crorepati', off the air now, gave Indians another phrase: Computerji, lock kiya jaye? "Yes, these are some things I manufactured during the rehearsals, but the game as such is well planned. You cannot change the format designed by producers."

When is `Kaun Banega' coming back?

Ask Star channel, he says, with a smile. He makes light of words like `The Brand Amitabh Bachchan'. "These words are coined by the media or corporates to facilitate communication. `So how are you feeling? Cool'. This word was not there when I was growing up. The whole communication system has become abbreviated. And very staccato: yeah, okay, no, fine, cool, chill. These words are what we would have conveyed in three or four sentences 10 years ago. So `brand' is another word used to describe a lot," he says nonchalantly, still `cool', after an hour-long session.

Mohanlal is a `fantastic actor'

"One of the greatest actors in the country," that's how Big B describes Mohanlal, who has been cast in the new `Sholay' with him. "He is extremely natural, a fantastic actor. Not many actors have that quality. He does it with so much ease. There's no arching of the eyebrows or making your eyes red, screaming or shouting. But he will convey that same trauma and intensity in a very natural manner which is a unique quality. I have never seen it in any other actor." Great praise from a glamorous veteran indeed.

There were several newspaper reports that Amitabh Bachchan and Aiswarya Rai were being roped in to promote Kerala tourism. But then, says Big B, "I too read about it, but no one has asked me." Whether he would be doing it if asked, he says, "Of course. It's a very beautiful part of our country."

He has fond memories and a very high opinion about the Malayalis he has been associated with, like Priyadarshan, T K Rajeev Kumar and Ravi K Chandran

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