Amitabh Bachchan is a global figure in his own right. And while most of the credit for his iconic status should go to his power-packed performances, the superstar himself contends that not all the credit belongs to him. The actor went on a trip down memory lane in a chat with us and recounted the big names that have shaped his illustrious career.
He says, “All of them, I would say, have made some contribution towards my journey as an actor.” Talking about his debut film, which was directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, he says, “Abbas sahab was bestowed with very powerful writing. In many ways a cultural socialist, he believed in the common man and his stories. He also pushed his actors to conduct themselves in the same way, like a common man. For example, in Saath Hindustani, the actors actually travelled via trains in third class compartments.”
Big B has a special place in his heart for Hrishikesh Mukherjee, with whom he made Abhimaan, Mili and Anand. He says, “He was a master in editing and he used to edit films of filmmakers such as Bimal Roy. So many times we would not know what he is saying. He would tell us to go stand there and say our dialogue. When we would ask why? He would say ‘don’t ask, just do it’. But when you see the completed film, you would understand that he had the whole thing edited in his mind and he knew everything. He was very conservative in his filmmaking style. Now you see these fabulously decorative sets, but he would just take an L-shaped room, put some chairs and make the actors stand. Those were devices that saved money, but the end result was perfect.”
Talking about Prakash Mehra of Zanjeer, he says, “Prakashji was a great storyteller; the way he narrated his story, he never bothered about camera angels. He just put the camera in one place and told the actors ‘chalo start karo’. On the other hand, Manji (Manmohan Desai) was completely different. He had to have massive sets, just the grandeur of everything was more important to him.”
On Yash Chopra, he takes a deep breath and reveals, “He was a romanticist by heart, he was fond of poetry in everything. He was also very passionate about his work. During Deewar, we weren’t sure if he could deliver as a director because it wasn’t his type of film, but he did it.”
Speaking of the current lot, he praises Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s prowess enthusiastically and says, “Look at Sanjay Leela Bhansali, his entire film is one big painting.”
