While it’s not exactly known why he does it, Amitabh’s consistency in documenting each and every moment of his life for the past 10 years is astounding.
Bollywood superstar and veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan was recently in Hyderabad to shoot for Chiranjeevi-starrer Sye Raa, which will see the former play an interesting cameo. In fact, a couple of days ago Big B revealed his character’s look along with a few pics from the sets of the epic opus on social media.
An important question here however, is how did Big B get his hands on the photographs — usually, no visuals from a film are released until the official first look is out.
Bachchan’s personal photographers
For years now, Big B’s entourage has consisted of two people apart from his security and man Friday. A source in the know says, “Since the last few years, Amitabh Bachchan captures every moment of his life. He has appointed a photographer and a videographer to capture his movement whenever he comes out of his house.” These two people shoot every movement of Mr Bachchan whenever they are on duty.
“So while the film was being shot, his photographers captured several moments and that’s how Mr Bachchan had all those pictures that he revealed on Twitter,” adds the source.
Generally, Telugu filmmakers don’t release any photograph of their film when the shooting is in progress. In some cases, they may release only the lead actor’s final look, but Big B released several telling pictures from the sets.
“When Big B tweeted about the first look, the film unit said ‘it’s not a problem’. So the actor went ahead and released other pictures too,” says the source, adding that although the unit is not very happy about it, they will not comment on the matter as the pictures have been posted by Big B himself.
A still from the movie Sye Raa
Notably, the actor only travels on chartered flights. “He came to Hyderabad on a special flight. And as soon as he stepped out from the flight, his photographers clicked his pictures until he retired to his room at night. It’s a daily activity for these photographers,” reveals the source further. This is perhaps the first time that an actor has hired a personal documentation team to capture every moment of his public life.
History of Big B’s blog
This documentation phenomenon first began when the superstar started blogging 10 years ago in April 2008. His advent into daily blogging was not one driven by his genuine love for the platform but a deal that involved monetary remuneration. His blog was earlier hosted on Big Adda, a Reliance Entertainment platform, where images and videos from his routine life made their way on a regular basis.
The platform has since then been shut down, but Senior Bachchan continued the documentation on another platform, Tumblr. Pictures clicked by the team still get posted regularly on his blog. However, it is believed that the blog is not the only reason he employs these services.
“He gets his media interactions shot by the team so that he has a proof of whatever he says. He keeps an elaborate record of the stuff that is printed about him in the media. He goes through them. He also keeps a note of journalists who write about him,” says another source.
Also, there is a buzz that the actor may some day use all the content to make a documentary on himself. Our sources do not rule the possibility out. “Though the cameras that are used to shoot are unlikely to provide the quality required for the big screen, it cannot be denied that he might as well use the footage some day for something like a documentary. But he has never expressed such an interest ever,” add the sources.
Photographer Paresh Mehta clicking Big B’s pictures outside his house
This constant documentation of his life is perhaps a testimony to the fact that Big B wants to capture each and every moment of his life — not just for professional use, but also for his future generations to see what his life was like.
The man who captures Big B
While inaugurating ace photographer Paresh Mehta’s studio in Mumbai last year, Amitabh Bachchan had revealed that Paresh clicks most of his photographs. “Pareshji has been accompanying me since the last few years and has been taking my personal photos and videos. Wherever I go, like for shoots or events, he comes along with me and clicks my pictures,” said Big B in a 2017 video. The actor further said that all of the pictures that he shares on his social media accounts are clicked by Paresh.
— Inputs from Noyon Jyoti Parasara
