|
Amitabh
Bachchan is everywhere... films, advertisements, endorsements, launches,
mahurats...
This
is due to an agreement between AB Corp and myself. Jaya Bachchan and
Amitabh Bachchan are looked at as assets of the company and evaluated the
way plant and machinery is. We act in films, which will earn revenue for
the company. AB Corp did not do well, but we stuck on even after the
company went into huge debt. These performances and appearances generate
revenue for the company.
The endorsements depend on the success of my films. I endorsed a lot after
the AB Corp deal. I had stayed away for so many years, but I had to do it
for the company. As my films flopped, my endorsements decreased, but
increased again after the success of KBC and my films.
You
will be turning 60 this year. Aren't you pushing yourself too much?
I
think it is a perception that I am working real hard...
But
you are definitely working more than you did over 20 years ago.
If
I am working, I am working more out of compulsion than necessity.
You
are still playing an angry man in Aankhen...
Aankhen
is
a very bold move by producer Gaurang Doshi. Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal and
Paresh Rawal have taken a bold step by playing blind men. I am playing an
honest, but hot-tempered bank manager, who feels that he is responsible
for the good position that the bank is in today. When he sees an employee
cheating a customer, he loses control and loses his job. Now he wants to
take revenge on the bank by looting it with the help of the three blind
men.
You
are also looting a bank in Kaante.
You seem to be becoming an expert...
The
similarity of looting banks is the only thing in common between Kaante
and Aankhen. I have a different role in Kaante. I
owe a lot to the family of Sanjay Dutt, who is the producer of Kaante.
His mother Nargis Dutt had taken my first screen test at the behest of my
mother Teji. This was for the Film Producers Forum's talent contest, where
I was edged out in the preliminaries. My mother was doing some programmes
for the jawans along with Nargis Dutt and she had asked her to do screen
test me.
Later, my second film Reshma Aur Shera saw Sunil Dutt taking my
screen test again. So I accepted the role in Kaante. It is my
small way of paying back.
Aren't
you reminded of your angry young man days again?
I
have never been able to understand why I was called the 'angry young
man'. Maybe the wrath, the angst and displeasure of the common man were
depicted in my movies. As Javed Akhtar puts it, when the whole nation was
disillusioned after the Emergency here was a man who was ready to take on
the establishment through his roles. It was a case of a David and a
Goliath where the entire nation sided with David. So terms like 'angry
young man' and 'one-man industry' came up.
Has
the image ever spilled over to your personal life?
Never.
All this is only good for cinema. This is a professional liability.
What
are your other assignments now?
I
have Hum Kisise Kum Nahin and Kaante coming up after Aankhen.
Then I have Feroz Nadiadwala's Kutumb, a film each with Honey
Irani, Ravi Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rakesh Mehra and Vipul Shah.
|
