Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur) - Hindustan Times (Jaipur) - City

BOL BACHCHAN

When Amitabh Bachchan talks, you only listen! As the superstar turns a year older, here’s 75 times his words made an impact and got us thinking

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I am not in the least eloquent or fluent with languages. My writing on social media is quite pedestrian. But even if it was near any acceptabil­ity, I would not be in a position to pen a script or a book.

I'm very fortunate to have spent so much time in the industry and to have lived through several generation­s of filmmakers, actors and technician­s. There's a huge volume of experience seeing people change and seeing content change. No one is perfect, and criticism is always welcome and expected.

I don’t know how others think about me, but if I have to walk the streets, I will, and if I need to stand in a queue at the airport, that’s ok.

Perfection needs effort to get it right. I need to rehearse for it. Many others who are greatly more efficient than me, do not. To each his craft! And I am no legend!.

I like to feel the butterflie­s in the stomach, I like to go home and have a restless night and wonder how I'm going to be able to accomplish this feat, get jittery. That hunger and those butterflie­s in the stomach are very essential for all creative people.

It's a huge change from when I started in the 1960s, but what is really impressive is that the number of ladies on set, the women working on set is a huge percentage. There used to be no women. It was just the leading lady's mother, perhaps the hairdresse­r and the makeup person.

Everybody wants to live. But sometimes the body just gives up. I have never been a superstar and never believed in it.

Everyone must accept that we will age and age is not always flattering.

We must have song and dance in our lives; we've had it ever since the inception of cinema in India.

The film industry is large enough and has many successful icons that have taken Indian cinema to shores beyond India. I think that Indian cinema itself needs to be applauded beyond one individual.

I would like to believe that I still am a shy person; I am very introverte­d. I have a problem communicat­ing.

I had two surgeries during the early part of 2012, and I was advised to restrict my work load.

If you represent a fantasy for the people who actually go to the cinema, they grab that and go with it; therefore, for the rest of their lives, they actually identify you with a certain thinking — a certain philosophy.

I ended up in Parliament and soon discovered that emotion really doesn't have any place in politics. It's a much more intricate and complicate­d game, and I just didn't know how to play it. If the modes are changing, one goes along with it, I guess.

I feel that particular­ly because of language we are handicappe­d in getting a large world audience. But Hindi cinema has the same ingredient­s that appeal to the whole world. I really felt good after working in a film like Piku, as many people could relate to my character. I got letters from my fans telling me how my character resembles their grandparen­ts.

I was born in fame. I was always recognised and known. Personally, I feel normal about it.

Indian films are like our food or our sense of dress or our languages: there's a great variety, and it changes every 100 miles, but there is something in common, a national Indian essence, that binds them all together.

I think no actor should be ever satisfied because there is always something new to do, something fresh to get challenged by.

India as a filmmaking nation has gained recognitio­n, at last, at most important Western and Far Eastern forums.

I ask you, as a citizen, is it a crime to go to the temple? And if I am propagatin­g superstiti­on by going to the temple, then the whole country is propagatin­g superstiti­on.

I felt that for 20 years, I was wooing the people of my country and asking them to like me as an actor, and when they liked me as an actor, I told them, 'Now, you like my politics.'

People ask me why it is that when I portray the 'angry young man' on screen, I really look angry. They reason that it is due to some suppressio­n in my childhood. But, it's just that I can't help it; it's in my genes. I feel a burden if I don’t write.

Personally, when a controvers­y erupts, we decide first whether it requires clarificat­ion and, secondly, if it receives notice from authoritie­s and the establishm­ent, we submit responses to their queries.

These are rare moments in an actor's life, where you're put in an environmen­t which is so natural, and you get natural performanc­es.

'What will people say?' is a feeling every Indian girl grows up with.

My mother came from a very affluent background, very Westernise­d, while my father was more Eastern. So I've had a very good blend of the East and the West. I guess this has been extremely helpful in making my career and the way I function. Acting is a profession connected to physicalit­y. Like sports. Athletes can’t perform beyond a certain age. Look at Usain Bolt, at 30 he knows he can’t compete in the next Olympic Games, if he does – he won’t win. We play many emotions in our careers, emotions that in real life we would perform just once. For example, my character has died in about 10 films, so you have to keep searching for different ways to do it!

There are many things that I feel I have missed out on.

I don't have anything in particular to achieve; I don't want to go any particular direction. I just want to take up the challenges of life as we go along.

Back in time, there was no celluloid, no film, which was the most expensive commodity of that time. We could not afford retakes. But now, with everything digital, you can shoot for hours and keep correcting yourself.

Yes, every venture is always filled with apprehensi­ons. But if we were to conduct ourselves continuous­ly on that aspect, then we would lose the most important reason to be in this profession: to challenge the art of and be part of what is commonly known as our creative instincts.

There are large numbers of people in India below the poverty line; there are large numbers of people who lead a meager existence. They want to find a little escape from the I don't spend much time looking back at what happened. I do remember it, but I don't see any purpose of wanting to look back.

Life is a blur when one is essaying different roles; it is so fulfilling.

I'd like to believe that tomorrow is another challenge for me. I'm sure there is lots more for me to do, because there is lots and lots of stuff still to be explored.

I am insecure about tomorrow. Will I get another job? Will it be appreciate­d? I will pursue acting for as long as I have a face and body that is acceptable to the people, but I still worry that if I don't do better tomorrow, it will all go away.

Dancing is not something I look forward to. It’s a pain for a 66-year-old man to shake his waist and dance.

Having no work would be terrible.

I want the vibrant energy of the younger generation of directors and actors to rub off on me.

I did not resign from politics because of Bofors. I resigned because I do not know how to play petty politics. I did not know back then and I don't know now either. I think, in any profession, what you fear most is not being able to perform, about not being able to meet new challenges. The fear of nonaccepta­nce, particular­ly if in creative art. What happens if the audiences do not like you anymore!

 ?? PHOTO: SATISH BATE/HT ??
PHOTO: SATISH BATE/HT

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