Even as most of his fans continue to nurse their New Years’ Eve hangover, Amitabh Bachchan has already plunged himself neck deep in work. On January 2, he met a few members of the media to kick off the first leg of promotions for his upcoming film Wazir. 2016 is going to be filled to the brim for Big B and he seems to have already put pedal to the medal with five films coming up and more work on TV too.
As we settle down for a chat at a suburban five-star, we ask the actor, where does he find his vigour. And he replies, with the usual nonchalance, and signature humility, “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.” He continues, “After Wazir, I will be starting Te3n and Aankhen. Then there’s Sujoy Ghosh’s film and a film with Shoojit Sircar, which is his own production. There is also a fifth project, but I don’t know if I can talk about that now.” Back in the city for a short break from his shooting schedule in Kolkata, Amitabh is recovering from a minor illness, but looking at him, dressed in a white kurta-pajama with a shawl draped around him, one cannot sense his discomfort. He’s one of the few actors of his times to have taken to social media and he’s one of the earliest forerunners of the same. Big B’s social media presence is no less powerful than his persona on screen and off it. Speaking of his affinity to the Internet, he baffles us with some statistics. “I was one of the early adopters of social media. I think it provides a great opportunity to listen and talk to all kinds of people. My blog’s counter is currently on 2898 days and there is an entry on it every day. I’ve been on Twitter for 2028 days and Facebook, which I joined much later, is at 1198 days. So, all of them put together, I have about 44 million followers,” Amitabh says.
But to Big B, it is not merely a one-way communication system. He reveals that he makes it a point to read almost all the replies he gets. “I get about 500-600 responses everyday. Of course I can’t reply to every one of them, but I do reply to a lot. Sometimes there are very intelligent and insightful comments from people who seem to understand your work. They notice some of the things that you don’t see yourself. Of course there are brickbats as well, but you can’t help it as it is a part of the social media.”
Last year saw him deftly juggle both films and TV commitments. Besides his films, the audience also saw him don the role of a presenter again after KBC for Star’s new show Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindaji. Talking about the idea of celebrities backing social causes, the Big B says, “There are a lot of people who are doing great work. Sometimes when people who have a big reach lend a helping hand, it aids greatly. For instance, in one episode of the show we featured this Bengaluru-based Army widow named Subhashini Vasant and I was amazed by her tremendous will power, because even in the face of tragedy, she remained admirably strong. Not only that, she helped other people suffering a similar loss and created an organisation to support them. So we shot a video with her and lent our support by helping her message reach others. There are many such stories of people who are doing great work.” So will he be willing to continue his association with the show “That’s up to Star, if they want to make a second season. If they are doing one, then why not ”
For his next release Wazir, Amitabh joined forces with Farhan Akhtar who had directed him in Lakshya. The senior actor is all praise for Farhan. “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.” Amitabh has never shied away from working with relatively new directors and this film is no exception. “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 Mani in Raavan. For me it doesn’t really matter whether the director is new or old,” he says. He also joined forces with Vidhu Vinod Chopra once again for this film. The two had worked together for Eklavya in 2007. “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.”
After an intense 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. But it’s only a cameo, he says. “In Ki and Ka I will be playing myself. Jayaji (Bachchan) is also in it and we will be portraying our real life characters for a small guest role.”
