Interview with Amitabh Bachan

I have interviewed Amitabh Bachchan six times in my almost 4 decade media career. It was always a treat.

Five of the six interviews happened when I sought an appointment, but one came at his ‘request’ and was the most special. Now, before we go on, let me not be self-indulgent and call it a request. It was more a feeler that came from his media advisor and a renowned aviation media publisher K Srinivasan (Srini for friends) that “AB” wanted to chat in Mumbai.

I was working for Times of India’s Sunday publication in Hindi by the name of Dinmaan Times. To say that I was shocked with the feeler would be an understatement. An interaction with a celebrity to the constituents of the hyper-social world where in celebrities are just a tweet away, may seem meaningless. But these were different times. Only the privileged few got interviews with AB, especially after his self-imposed “media exile”. But more on that later. Next day, I was flying to Mumbai to meet the heartthrob of millions around the world. They say there was a time when at least one TV channel somewhere in the world

I landed in Bombay and was lodged in Sun and Sand hotel in Juhu. I was told that my appointment was for 2 p.m. on the sets of 'Khuda Gawah' – an interesting Bollywood movie with a pre-war Afghanistan backdrop and Amitabh playing a bearded Afghan warlord by the name of Khuda Baksh. Now, you must be wondering what prompted AB to call me for an interview.

To understand that, we have to go back more than a decade. I was the editor of a leading film magazine in in Bombay in the early 80s. However, despite my exalted status, I had never managed an interview with Amitabh Bachchan. This was because AB had decided to shun the media after a fairly public fall-out with another film magazine led by its feisty editor – Shobhaa De. True to my journalistic virtues, I had still tried to meet the megastar, even submitting a formal written request for an interview. The reply had been a polite but categorical “No” as he was not engaging with the media. The response came on a letterhead with AB embossed in gold. I am sure I have that reply somewhere in my files.

When I continued to pursue the interview, I was told that I’ll be the first journalist to get an interview with him whenever he comes out of the exile. A decade later, he still remembered his promise and tracked me down despite the fact that I had changed many jobs.

As for the interview, it was fairly uneventful. Amitabh was politically correct. I had a long list of questions – a mix of good length deliveries with some yorkers and bouncers. However, he was prepared to play the forward defensive shot to most deliveries I bowled. The good thing was that he didn’t want to duck under any bouncers that I bowled to him. He wanted to play. So, questions about his relationship with Rajiv Gandhi were not met with an evasive stance. He was neither bitter nor critical. I asked him how did he reconcile to playing violent, comic and at times, frivolous roles despite coming from such an illustrious literary family.

His played at it with a straight bat – “I am given a role by my director. I always go through the script but never make any changes. For me the director is god and I never defy him. I have full faith in his abilities. In fact I try to come up to his expectations. I know I have fans across the length and breadth of the country. They belong to various religions, castes and regions. They expect only one thing from me - a performance. And I can't fail them. Their love and affection fills my soul. But even they know that when I am not on screen, I am a real person. I am not a performing monkey all the time!” That inimitable low baritone laugh followed.

What struck me most was this man’s fluency in both languages. He seamlessly moved from Hindi to English and vice versa, never struggling for words. He was as steady in his delivery in real life as he was on screen.

I mentioned to him that I had interviewed his father – the late Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan, a tall literary figure – at his home in Juhu. I mentioned to AB that I had vivid memories of that afternoon. We had spent considerable time discussing Bachchan senior’s autobiography (I had read all four volumes of it before I went and met him!) I could sense AB’s mood changing as soon as the conversation veered away from him towards his father. He was suddenly warm and all ears. Suddenly the equation had changed from being one of interviewer and interviewee to, if I may dare say, two friends. The conversation went on and I mentioned how we had also discussed the early Allahabad days of the Bachchan family and the days in Delhi when Bachchan Sr was Hindi advisor to the government of India. I mentioned to him that I remember Abhishek and Shweta playing in the garden with his brother, Ajitabh. What I carefully left out was that I had shamelessly asked Bachchan Sr help me in getting an interview with Amitabh. Like his son then, he was polite but frank and said he has no say in these matters.

Another interview with AB that I remember came a few years later. I remember this interview for very different reasons.

This time, we met in Sopan, AB’s bungalow in the posh South Delhi locality of Gulmohar Park. Dressed in a crisp white kurta pajama, he offered me tea and I gladly accepted (This is a trick of the trade. You should never say no to tea if offered by the interviewee. It ensures you get more time with the interviewee and can stretch the conversation by sipping your tea slowly. Interviewees will almost always let you finish the tea and keep talking while you’re slowly getting through it)

I saw a different Amitabh in this interview. He was hurt. He was hurt by his friends and by his fans. The media was targeting him again for his role in the Bofors scam and he had decided to take a sabbatical from acting to get away from it all. He sounded apologetic. He didn't say it in so many words but he hinted that Rajiv Gandhi wasn’t shielding him. In fact, Rajiv had gone on record to say Amitabh should defend himself. When I asked a pointed question on this, he said, “who raja hain, hum prajaa hain” (They are rulers and we are the subjects). His conscience was clean but he was being failed by politics and by friendship. The media was targeting him and he was reacting the only way he knew, by retreating into a shell. As the interview was ending, he told me that he’ll bounce back. And he did.

Once I was done quizzing the mega-star going into exile this time, I mentioned to him how my son was a huge fan of his. He asked me where my son was. I told him my 8-year old was waiting outside for him (I had arranged this in a manner that my driver would drive my son to the house at a pre-agreed time)

Amitabh dropped everything and walked out bare-foot to see him. But, my son wasn’t in the car. I asked my driver where Gypsy (that’s his nick-name) was and he told me that the shy 8-year old had bailed out at the last minute refusing to come face-to-face with his idol. Amitabh asked me to dial my residence and make him talk to Gypsy (we didn’t have mobile phones at that time). I did as instructed and asked Gypsy to speak to Amitabh. After initially refusing to do so, he finally hung on to the phone long enough for AB to take the receiver from me and say “Hello Gypsy…main Amitabh Bachchan bol rahaa hoon”. I am not sure what happened next as my son doesn’t remember, but Amitabh told me take his autograph and give it to my son.

Now, my son and I were hardly ever on the same page while he was growing up. So, you can imagine my surprise when he chanced upon journalism as a career. He was an anchor with an English news channel. You must be wondering what this has to do with Amitabh Bachchan. Well, more than a decade after that interview and phone-call, Amitabh Bachchan fought off another adversity and paid off all the debt that he had accumulated on account of ABCL’s failure. The day he announced that he had paid off all creditors, my son, now an anchor, interviewed him live. I didn’t manage to catch the interview but he claims it was one of the best interviews he did and the entire team in the newsroom applauded at the end of the interview. I have no doubt that the applaud was more for AB and less for my son. Here he was, speaking to my son about fighting off another adversity that life had thrown at him, just the way he had confided in me years back.

Legends fall only to rise. In fact, it’s their glorious rise from the depth of adversity that makes them legends. Legends transcend generations. In fact it’s their ability to touch people across generations that makes them legends. Amitabh Bachchan is a legend. My son and I can vouch for that (not that he needs our endorsement!