Ash can't replace my daughter :BIG B

By Subhash K Jha

Amitabh Bachchan on playing Gabbar… Er, Babban & on the Year that was...

You're a month away from your 65th birthday. How do you look back on the year?
Well, I think every year has its positives and negatives. It started with my son announcing his decision to get married. Then I got the Legion d'Honour from the French government.

Then the marriage, and Aishwarya as the Bahu in the house. Now the National award for Black and another doctorate from Leeds University…such wonderful things happening.

We won't discuss the bad things.
Why not? They're the flip side of the good and therefore essential. I don't look at the lows as bad things. They're a part of life. Yes, there has been political victimization, court cases, and so on.

The farmland controversy just goes on.
I've already announced my decision to relinquish the land, so I don't know what they're fighting for. Court mein do aadmi kyon jaate hain? When they're in dispute, right?

But when I'm saying, take the land, what's the dispute? When you're high-profile they like to hit you as much as they can. You know about it. You've gone through it recently.

What is it like to have a Bahu in the house?
It's fantastic! I feel I've got back my daughter in the house.

Has Aishwarya in some ways taken Shweta's place in your life?
No one can take Shweta's place in my life. She's my daughter. But yes, my Bahu is like another daughter in the house. It's wonderful to have her around. We're all extremely happy. And I hope she's happy too.

Did it feel different work with Aishwarya after marriage in Sarkar Raj?
Not at all. We were all playing roles when the camera was switched on. Once it was off we were a family again.

Ramu keeps threatening us with several projects featuring you and Abhishek.
Yeah, he wants to do Time Machine with me and Abhishek. It's a nice concept and beautiful story. I'm comfortable working with Ramu. So why not another film? I haven't done a sci-fi before.

Sarkar 2 was a fantastic experience. I do hope it lives up to the expectations raised by the earlier film, though the canvas is much larger this time.

Sarkar Raj is your first sequel.
Oh yeah! The inter-relations haven't changed, though some new characters have been introduced. But the house, the ambience, the wife, sons and daughters-in-law and the working relations are all the same.

Babban in Sholay is a very cartoonish villain…
Why cartoonish?

Because the original Gabbar was very comic strip like in his demeanour.
Well, let me assure you this villain is more ruthless in look. And he isn't humorous at all. He's a full-on villain. But yes, there's an emotional side to him. He has a brother who's killed by the Thakur. That's why he becomes the way he is. So yeah, I'd say Babban's villainy has a justification.

Any fear of audiences recoiling from your villainous aspirations?
I looked upon it as a challenge. As an actor I've the liberty to try as many characterizations and apply my craft to as many characters as possible. Earlier the accusation against me was, why was I only doing leading men's roles? Now when I'm doing something different I'm questioned for playing a villain.

Do you think you are now liberated of a specific image?
Certainly. Because of my age I'm able to do character roles. And because I do character roles I was able to play a villain in Ramu's film. Because of the heroic roles I've done before audiences may feel I should not be playing a villain. I respect that opinion.

But as an actor it's very important for me to do something different. Anthony Hopkins who's one of my favourite actors, and who generally plays sympathetic roles, plays a sadistic killer in Hannibal. But we admire his craft.

So the audience needs to be more tolerant of my need to experiment. At 65 these are the kind of roles I'm getting. If people want to see me doing such unexpected roles, I'm fine. Otherwise I'm out of job.

You've had the singular honour of being in both the versions of Sholay.
Why just me? Sachin is also in both the versions. He plays my brother. There're these little-little things that have been incorporated into the original. Sholay was the first film that Ramu saw.

So he has a nostalgic attachment to that film. But Ramu has developed his own vision based on his attachment to Sholay. To bring the whole theme and characters into the city is a very bold and brave thing to do.

Was there a sense of nostalgia in re-visiting Sholay?
No. That was Ramesh Sippy's Sholay, a masterpiece finished and done with. This is Ram Gopal Varma's film. I just did what he asked me to. I'm damn fortunate to work with him.

Just like I had the singular honour of working with Prakash Mehra, Manmohan Desai, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and now the new generation of filmmakers. Ramu's craft is totally different from Ramesh Sippy's.

The thought of playing a role already done to ever-lasting popularity by Amjad Khan…did that daunt you?
I don't know why so much is being made out this. That someone decided to remake it is a great compliment to the original. Nobody questions filmmakers who do so many varied interpretations of Shakespeare's Othello, Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet.

When Vishal Bharadwaj makes Maqbool or Omkara he's praised for how well he has adapted Shakespeare. Baz Luhrmann has done a very contemporary version of Romeo & Juliet. Then why not Ramu for re-interpreting Sholay.

You had quite a motley crew with you in Aag.
Oh yes. There was a very wide canvas. There're several smaller characters who have been very nicely portrayed. I love Mohanlal. I love his craft. He's an exceptional artiste.

With such simplicity he's able to display emotions that are so complex. Unfortunately I didn't have much to do with Sushmita or not too many scenes with Ajay Devgan either.

All the actors were in awe of you.
So you say. I haven't seen it.

Maybe they are such good actors they hide their awe.
Then I need to be in awe of them for being such good actors.

Why haven't you and Ramesh Sippy worked together lately?
He hasn't asked me. He hasn't been directing films.

Do you miss working with those directors?
Of course! How can you forget your past? I don't. I love my past