On the sets of Honey Irani's debut film, ARMAAN, Amitabh Bachchan is in great spirits. He's joking around, smiling at everybody and is in a good mood. And so the few members of the press feel naturally blessed, when the Big B smilingly says, “Pehle press puja, phir pet puja,” when his Man Friday tells him to have his food when the unit breaks for lunch.

At the onset of the interview, he says, half-jokingly, “Please do not ask me about my character in this film.” But he goes on to add that he plays Dr. Singh, an elderly doctor in the film. “I am trying to raise funds for a hospital, my dream hospital. My son, who's also a doctor, played by Anil Kapoor, shares my dream but is in a dilemma when around interval-time, I die in the film. His life gets a bit complicated with the two ladies – Preity Zinta and Gracy Singh – involved in his life. I can't be revealing much about the film, as that would give the story away. I'd rather the director tell you more about it,” he says, his booming voice cutting through the silence of the vacant studio floor.

This is the first time Bachchan is working with a woman director and he's only happy about it. “But I can't see her. She's there somewhere looking at me on the monitor, giving me instructions on the mike. All I can hear is her voice – upar se ek awaaz aati hai. But I am enjoying every minute of this shooting – the script was given to me six months in advance. Right from what scenes will be shot to the shot division, everything is on paper. Her units, especially her assistant directors, who are mostly women, are all very well organised. Right from hair to costumes to continuity shots, for each department there is a specialized person and that saves on time. Work gets done faster. Nothing is created here; everything is planned beforehand with a little room for creative license. It's a wonderful feeling.”

  The film is being shot in sync sound, meaning there has to be pin-drop silence on the sets when a scene is being canned. “It also means there is no dubbing months after the film has been shot. It's a great advantage for the actors as this way they are more focused on the scene they are doing and are spared of undergoing the same emotions months later during dubbing. It's so systematic; this is how it works in Hollywood. This is how I worked during the making of KAANTE, for which the crew was American. Everything there is done with a clockwork precision – right from the time I would get into my car to reach the sets to the exact time spent on getting the shot ready to executing it. Even my chauffeur knew the scenes I was shooting for on a particular day! It's that organised. I think that's the only way to work efficiently and we have made a beginning.”

The increasing need by present-day filmmakers to get everything done in an organised fashion is an effort to modernise filmmaking. “Today, there are institutes to learn every aspect of cinema. I do regret not going to the Film Institute in Pune. May be some training there would have probably helped me today. Till date I don't know what happens to the film when a director says 'cut'. Where does it go from here, I don't know?”

To work with Amitabh Bachchan is a childhood desire for almost every filmmaker. From Karan Johar to Kaizad Gustad, from Vidhu Vinod Chopra to Vipul Shah, Bachchan name ranks highest on every director's wish list. So how does he choose his films? “No, no. That's not true. Where are the film-makers?” he modestly says, adding, “I don't choose. I feel totally blessed to have been able to work with all my directors, be it directors who I worked with when I started out or those who I'm working with now. It's a pleasure that the roles offered to me now are more varied than before and the younger directors feel that I co uld do justice to them.”