Archive for April, 2008

Day 10

Posted on: April 26, 2008 - 11:59 pm

Comments: 575

Prateeksha, Mumbai    April 26, 2008   11:05 pm

 

Back home from Chennai, well almost ! Went straight to the studio and ‘Aladin’ from the airport, worked all day came via the office attending meetings with Star TV on show proposals and now with all of you. You who continue to overwhelm me with your affection and concern and love. You who agree with the stands i take. You who encourage me to pursue my vocation despite my shortcomings. You who tolerate my beard, off or on ! You who show your faith in me, by sending me your own personal issues, hoping that i shall wave a magic wand and all will be well. You that criticize me lovingly and not so lovingly. You that get nasty and unethical and sometimes cheap and vulgar. You that exhibit your writing skills and laud mine. You that take interest in my father’s works, quote them extensively and send me your own compositions. You that persevere that i will one day respond personally to you. You that write to me from far off lands - Costa Rica and USA and Hawai and just so many regions i never ever expected to be known…

You are the reason i am.

 I strive to seek your attention. My work revolves around what the mass would think, tolerate and react. The value that you give me in my assessment and yours as well. The wave of recognition as i drive by in the street. The roar of appreciation as i appear in public. The smile that lights up your face as i walk past. All this and more is our indicator of accomplishment.

Every message of yours illuminates the acceptance of my nature and character. It fills me with pride and great joy that without having done anything personal at all, there is a desire among you of considering me close enough as a member of your family ! I cannot ask for more. I never desired  this nor did i work towards it. For it to happen then, almost of its own, is not a reflection of my presence or deed. It is undoubtedly the greatness of all your beings. And may it ever remain so.

Every evening, after the shooting there is a line up of promotional activities for ‘BhoothNath’. Interviews and press meets. Routine questions, but a real test on our performance capacity to make each similar question sound different in its response. Marketing gets bigger by the day. We travel to London too at the end of the month to do press there. Tomorrow i launch through Zapak.com a game for the film. The traffic Commisioner wishes to, in conjunction with the Producers, launch a campaign on the traffic laws and regulations which are not being paid heed to - ‘Stick to your lane, BhoothNath is watching’, ‘Observe the signal, Bhooth Nath is watching’.

Some found it not having much value. But the Commissioner explained the motive. If BhoothNath is a ghost, which he is in the film, then by saying BhoothNath is watching conveys the fact that even though drivers and commuters may feel the absence of the police man on the spot, there is someone that is watching you and that your infringement will not go unnoticed - an obvious reference to hidden cameras and plain clothes policemen. Interesting.

Ram Gopal Varma amuses me with his self deprecatory remark on the sms. This morning his text reads - ‘ Sarkar ( we address each other thus ), people are saying Tashan is as bad as Aag…! If Sholay has set the bench mark for the ultimate hit then the least i achieved with Aag, is that i made it a bench mark for the ultimate flop.. ha..ha ‘

Never too exuberant in success, nor too defeated in failure.

 

My love and more to all - namaskar, aadab, satsriakal, shubhratri, shabha khair good night -

Amitabh Bachchan

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Day 9

Posted on: April 26, 2008 - 2:37 am

Comments: 427

Taj Coromandel Hotel, Chennai  April 25, 2008  12 midnight

 

Its Kamal Hassan’s film ‘Dasavataram’ and its music release and he has asked me over to attend the function to commemorate the occasion. There’s Jackie Chan, and the Chief Minister of TamilNadu and several colleagues of Kamal. Its a warm friendly event. The few minutes of the promo seen looks awesome. He has played 10 different roles in the film, and all seem so difficult t identify !! Marvelous !!

Back tomorrow to Mumbai and ‘Aladin’ - the song and action work is over and we move on to another set.

The messages continue to pile in at an alarming rate and with greater endearment and love.. just so moving to me. Never expected this would and could happen. The compliments are just so warm and i want to give a general response to them for the moment and say, thank you and that it is still not possible to reply individually, but i am trying to get a team to help me and it shall soon fructify - not to execute my thoughts and work or my blogging, but to be able for me to see all that comes in to  allow me to randomly answer a few.

Satyam, writes on a sensitive  philosophical matter with reason and logic. I loved his comments on ‘lies’ and ‘false’ and ‘truth’ and the combination of the three vocations - politics, media and film. They were well researched and sincere.

Vijaya talked of great minds and divinity and how i should ignore loose talk. Maybe she is right.

But i really have no intentions of illusions. My limitations just like everyone else are there for all to see. Many that write in have expressed similar sentiment - ‘you are above all this, maintain dignity.’

But dignity is getting construed as relevant acceptance of wrong. How to correct that. I invite comment and debate.

Chirag, Ahmedabad, wants a formula of how to get out of bad times. I have none. I just keep moving from day to day. Sometimes persistence pays and all i can advise is to follow that.

Neeta Sharma - thank you for Babuji’s reference and to your readings from the ‘Rachnavali’. The ‘Rachnavali’ for those that do not know is a 9 volumne collection of my father’s works, a collection that lies in almost all the rooms in our house, decorated and referred to almost on a daily basis. We find solace, and explanation and answers and questions in there. Some, due to the poet’s habitual foresight and vision, years old, yet so meaningful in today’s time. We are in the process of reprinting it on a much larger and decorative scale.

Sharad Kumar from Scotland insists on reading a motive behind the invite list to the Abhi-Ash wedding. I find it below my dignity to give explanations to a matter that in my reckoning, is firmly embedded in the private domain. But let me tell you this. Every member of my entire staff with their families, people who have worked and remained with us for over 30 years, drivers, cleaners, kitchen staff, peons, minders, office bearers, security, helpers - formed the major portion of my list. They came as my guests. Not to work that day or help. They were my invited guests. My family, Jaya, Abhishek, Shweta, my grand children and I all  sat with them and looked after them, served them food with our own hands and nothing in the world could have given us more pleasure than doing that. For me they were my most important guests. I did not need anyone else, for they were people who tirelessly have worked day in out with us. Lived through our pain and glory, through success and failure, through sadness and joy and never ever changed. They remained devoted and servile and committed and constant. Their allegiance and sincerity never in doubt.

Abhimanyu Srivastava - you took a signature on your left hand many years ago in Allahabad during the time of my election and now you have grown into a mature writer and want to meet up to show me your work. Write to me at my address in Mumbai at Prateeksha, Juhu and i shall instruct my office to set up a meeting.

A few have asked for me to remove my beard. I am afraid, it is not going to happen in a hurry. Primarily because of continuity in my forthcoming films, but also because i seem to like it there !!

There is concern and criticism on the choice of my films, these days. I shall allow that to gain thought. Maybe there were compelling circumstances, friendly considerations and rank bad decision making. I am human. Mistakes happen. If it has been upsetting for you, it has been equally distressing for me. For this my apologies and a promise to be more careful in the future.

But i have honestly felt that my choices would hardly form the topic of anyones concern. I am wrong then. It is heartening to note that there are people who still show concern.

And… there are no blocks or moderators till now. My instructions have been nothing should be stopped from appearing. If i have opened my house for all to come in, i cannot be choosy.

And this thought harbors close on its heals to my thoughts on discrimination and as one blogger questions, why i keep company of those that discriminate if i do not endorse it. There is reference here to Bala Saheb Thakeray and his dislike towards certain communities. Yes, there are relations with several politicians. High profile celebrities can seldom keep away from them. But i feel if i do not interfere or necessarily believe in their politics, does it give enough reason to disassociate the relation. Has there been any direct endorsement to the politics of any leader of prominence, since i left politics ?? Have i canvassed for them ?? Yes, i did do an advertisement for the UP Government, propagating the beauty and benefits of the State to invite investment and yes it was funded by the Samajwadi Party, the Party in power. But, i did it in the capacity as the Brand Ambassador of the UP Development Council, a body formed to look into the investment profiles of the State. It being funded by the Party, gave it the look of a Party propaganda. But that is incorrect. Where else could it have been paid from ?? The Government paying that amount would have caused debate on the veracity of the usage of public money. Hence the Party.

Some questions have been raised on my land matters and bloggers have led me on to sites carrying articles from magazines on this issue. The Barabanki matter has been summarily dismissed by the Honorable Supreme Court in my favor. That matter is now over. But some other issues are still in court, it would not be prudent to speak about it yet.  Let the final judgement come, either way, and i shall respond to it in great detail, for let me tell you, much like the several other stories that have opened your eyes, this one shall too.

 

I live by my father’s lines from a poem -

“main chupana jaanta toh jag mujhe sadhu samajhata,

shatru mera ban gaya hai, chhal rahit vyavahar mera ”

If i knew how to hide, the World would have thought me to be a saint.

My unblemished nature has become my biggest enemy.

 

Namaskar, Shubhratri, ShabhaKhair, Satsriakaal, good night

Amitabh Bachchan 

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Day 8(i)

Posted on: April 24, 2008 - 5:44 pm

Comments: 640

Mehboob Studio, April 24, 2008  4:55 pm

 

The year before last year, i think, i was invited to a function by lyric writer Sameer, the son of the illustrious lyric writer Anjaan. The function was the launch of a book on his completion of a certain number of years in the film Industry. In his welcome speech he expressed joy that his father had written songs for Amitabh Bachchan ( khaike paan benaras wala.. was his ! ), he, Sameer, had written songs for Amitabh’s son Abhishek and he now wished that his son ( who he presented on stage - a mere few months old !) would hopefully write songs for Abhishek’s son ( Abhishek was not married till then ).

 When asked to speak, I applauded and acknowledged the long standing connection between our families and concluded jokingly that i must now rush home and ask Abhishek to quickly produce a son so that - in Hindi - Sammer ji ki mano kaamna puri ho jai ! ( Sameer ji’s wishes should come true ).

The electronic media without reference to the moment in its entirety, edited the proceedings and put out a headline - ‘Amitabh Bachchan wants a grand son !’. And a socially conscious organization, non government, sent me a legal notice on the grounds that i was publicly propagating the desire for a male child, thereby demeaning the presence of the girl child in society and undermining its birth.

So..electronic media mischieviously mutilated a piece of news and projected it putting me into trouble, for creating a wrong impression in society.

I just have a point. The Financial Express of Mumbai dated Thursday, April 24, 2008 carries a headline in its ‘fe360′ section on page 14, titled “Skipping breakfast may mean a baby girl”, where the article talks of a research done on the diet of women at time of conception - ‘ low calorie diet or skipping breakfast, at time of conception more likely to give birth to girls than boys’.

Will not the publishing of such an article give ideas to those who may not want a girl child !!

Any socially conscious organizations listening !!

Amitabh Bachchan

Posted in: Uncategorized



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