‘It’s good that I am getting work’

Amitabh Bachchan, who already has five movies in his kitty including Te3n, talks about his upcoming flick Wazir

Amitabh Bachchan who’s finished three films last year (including his upcoming release Wazir) seems to have already put the pedal to the medal for 2016 with five films and more work in TV lined up. Sitting down for a chat with the media ahead of Wazir’s release this week, Big B, when asked where he finds his vigour, tells us with his usual nonchalance, “It’s not about vigour. It’s just that people still come to me with stories and it’s good that I am getting work. After Wazir, I will be starting Te3n and Aankhen and then there’s Sujoy Ghosh’s film and there’s also a film with Shoojit Sircar, which is his own production. There is, in fact, a fifth one too, but I don’t know if I can talk about that now.”

Bachchan, who plays an amputee in Wazir, tells us that despite the hardcore action feel that the trailer gives, the film actually is an emotional drama. Having worked with the film’s lead Farhan Akhtar before in Lakshya (which Farhan had directed), Big B is all praise for him.

He says, “Farhan is very talented. He did a wonderful job in Lakshya as a director and again he has done a great job in Wazir as an actor.”

The film has been directed by Bejoy Nambiar of Shaitaan fame. Bachchan says he has no qualms working with relatively newer directors.

“It’s not really about whether the director is new or not. The makers have a story and if I find the story interesting and have confidence in them to do justice to it then it’s fine. Bejoy has already done two films and he has also worked as an assistant with Mani Ratnam for some time. I didn’t know this but Abhishek told me about his association with Mani as he had worked with him in Raavan. For me, it doesn’t really matter whether the director is new or old,” he says.

Bachchan and his producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra go back a long way, since their Eklavya days. Telling us if that had a bearing on him giving his nod to Wazir, he says, “I have friends in the industry and he (Vidhu) is a good friend. But as an actor and a professional, my work is not dictated by my friendships. Those are two separate things. Only if the work is interesting I will take it.”

And the role had enough to interest him. Telling us about the challenges in making Wazir, Big B says, “My character is not paralysed, in fact he has both legs amputated after an incident. So it was a challenge to master the wheelchair and handle it deftly. But the legs were in fact hidden using VFX. So I only had to sit normally with my legs tied and covered with a special cloth that they use for VFX. But it was difficult because sometimes my legs would shake while moving about.” And after a serious role in Wazir, Big B’s next appearance on the big screen will be in his Shamitabh director

R. Balki’s next Ki and Ka. “In Ki and Ka I will be playing myself. Jayaji is also in it and we will be portraying our real life characters for a guest role.”