Dressed in a kurta pajama with a shawl draped over his shoulders, Abhishek Bachchan looks very dapper indeed. Over the last few years, he has donned quite a few roles other than an actor. He is a producer and owner of sports teams. And he says it is a conscious decision not to do too many films. He says,
“During dad’s times, actors did 30 to 50 films at a time. Shashi Kapoor has the record of shooting for 11 films in a day. Then we came and we shot for five to six films a year, and these films took three years to release. Those days they would shoot and edit and call distributors to watch the portions edited. They would fund the film after watching a few portions. Now the system has changed because funding is streamlined. We get funding at one go, and we can finish our films at a time. Now we do films in six months — four months of prep and two months of post production. For Housefull 3, we shot for an entire month in England and came back and did a bit of editing. Then we shot for two more days and it was over. The industry has become more efficient.”
On sequels to Amitabh’s films
“I don’t think I will do any sequel to his films. If I do it, you people — the media — will not appreciate it. And you will say that I am not as good as him! Actually, all his films have been the best, what more can be done? I feel we should not touch such great films as we might not be able to do justice to them,” he says.
Relationship with his dad
“My camaraderie with dad is the same. He has always treated me as a friend. My mom was strict and used to scold us but after a while we were out of reach. She was always the enforcer but dad allowed us to do what we wanted,” he says.
Abhishek is also proud that Amitabh has won the National Award for the third time. “He won the National Award for the first time for Black, the second time we both got it for Paa and the third time was for Piku. These are special moments in life.”
He adds, “What is wealth? It’s not money or superhit films. Your wealth is memories and experiences of being together. What else would a father want? It’s a proud moment for him to have his wife, daughter, son and daughter-in-law to be together at such a moment. We were all there (for the Awards) but Aradhya was not allowed.”
Has treasured all the letters
He adds that he has kept all the handwritten letters from his father. “I have treasured my photographs because if they are lost, all those great memories will never come back. I have pictures of my childhood, my marriage…the birth of my daughter. I have treasured my father’s letters, which he wrote to me since I was a child. I have my Dada ji’s letters too. When I read them now I feel they have so much wisdom. My dad too has letters from Dada ji when he was in school in Nainital.” And keeping up the tradition, he writes to Aaradhya. “She is too young to understand and read them but when she grows up she will read and enjoy them.” Asked about his daughter’s reaction when she sees her family on screen, Abhishek says, “She hasn’t seen our films. But she saw a song from Kuch Na Kaho and she looked at us in surprise and was wondering how we were on TV. When she saw her Dada ji she was very excited.”
