'Abhishek Has Gone Through A Lot'

'It's a tremendous accomplishment to have a father like Amitabh Bachchan and still be so sorted, to not taste the kind of success that he should have and yet be so balanced.'

Like Kareena Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan celebrates his 25th year in showbiz too.

Writer-film-maker R Balki has worked both father and son in Paa, directed Amitabh Bachchan in Shamitabh and Abhishek in Ghoomer, all three films co-produced by Junior Bachchan.

In a conversation with Rediff Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya, the director rewinds to their first meeting and explains why he wanted to reverse the equation on screen.

"I always wanted to see Amitabh Bachchan as a child because he is one. At 82, he is a sometimes sulky, sometimes funny child, always endearing, who for all his gravitas, always makes me smile and laugh. Abhishek is the adult in a lot of ways," he says.

Let's flashback to your first meeting with Abhishek.

During the Cheeni Kum (his 2007 directorial debut) promotions, I met Amitabh Bachchan, who was having a conversation with Abhishek. Abhishek was saying something serious and Amitji was pulling his leg.

Looking at them, I wondered who was the dad and who was the young one.

It was at that moment that I decided that whenever I made a film with them, I would need to find a way to reverse the conventional father-son equation.

Maybe the idea of doing a film on progeria came from that thought.

A rare genetic condition, it makes a 12-year-old child look five times older, and I could project Amitji as a brat with Abhishek as Auro's mature dad.

That's how I saw them during that first interaction and the impression hasn't changed.

Abhishek not only acted in Paa, but was also one of the film's producers. What's he like as a producer?

He is not an interfering producer or one plotting on how to make money from the film.

Both of us are fools in a lot of ways. Would you believe that someone wanted to buy Paa, but Abhishek refused the offer, saying we would distribute the film in our way?

He could have made a lot of money had he sold the film, but that's the way he is. When he supports something, he does it from the heart.

Interestingly, while Abhishek always believed in Paa as a producer, he didn't want to act in the film with his dad.

(Chuckles) I don't think Amitabh Bachchan has ever chased an actor the way he chased Abhishek Bachchan for Paa.

I too have never chased an actor as much as Abhishek.

For six months, we tried to convince him to play Amol Arte, but Abhishek kept saying no.

So how did you get him on board?

One day I just told him, 'Listen, forget that it is a complex and challenging role, just do the film for my sake.'

I added that I was not asking him for his dates, simply asking him 20 days from your life.

He was taken aback and didn't know what to say.

It was because of that unusual request that he gave in and did the film.

Given your long association with them, do you notice any similarities between the two Bachchans?

None. Abhishek Bachchan is a completely different actor from Amitabh Bachchan.

Even as a person, they are very different.

Both are very caring in a lot of ways.

But Abhishek has gone through a lot and that has made him richer, both as a person and an actor.

Paa was a journey unlike any we had seen in Hindi cinema before. It's obvious that you believed in the film, but weren't you apprehensive about taking on more than you could chew?

If I had thought along those lines, I would have never made the film.

The moment you start strategising what will work, what the masses want, doubts start creeping in.

I don't understand myself, so how can I pretend to understand the audience?

We went into Paa without any thought even on how we were going to execute what was on paper.

Amitabh Bachchan also didn't ask any questions, he just went with the project on pure belief, maybe not even that.

In retrospect, I realise that if P C Sriram (cinematographer) had not used a wide-angle lens during a test shoot with Amitji, we would never have been able to shoot the film because there were no visual effects back then.

Even for Auro's look, we just had some references of people with progeria. Dominie Till and Christian Tinsley came from Los Angele and made the look happen.

Paa picked up four National Film Awards, for Best Actor (Amitabh Bachchan), Best Supporting Actress (Arundathi Nag), Best Make-up (Dominie Till and Christien Tinsley) and Best Feature Film in Hindi. That must have been a high given the challenges of the project?

I don't believe in any award; I was just glad that we had managed to pull it off.

I always wanted to see Amitabh Bachchan as a child because he is one.

At 82, he is a sometimes sulky, sometimes funny child, always endearing, who for all his gravitas, always makes me smile and laugh.

Abhishek is the adult in a lot of ways.

Before Paa, you directed Abhishek in a few ads too..

Yes, we collaborated on the first Maruti Versa ad, followed by the Idea campaign.

At that point, Abhishek was one of those rare celebrities in advertising who endorsed just one brand.

There may have been a few other ads, but nothing really significant.

He chose Idea and remained its brand ambassador for years.

That says a lot for the person he is.

As a professional, he possibly has one of the finest minds in the film industry, with a superb sense of cinema and an understanding of the bigness of advertising.

Always curious, there is so much that interests him and right from the briefing, we jammed a lot.

Abhishek loves new ideas, is eager to learn and knows a lot.

I'm not talking of just knowledge here, but an emotional maturity of a different order.

Can you elaborate on that?

Well, it's a tremendous accomplishment to have a father like Amitabh Bachchan and still be so sorted, to not taste the kind of success that he should have and yet be so balanced.

More than just a gifted actor, Abhishek is also a gifted human being.

I love Amitabh Bachchan; I'm a huge fan.

And I respect Abhishek Bachchan.

I'm fond of him, and I also look up to him.

After Paa, Abhishek also produced Shamitabh and Ghoomer. Did he contribute to the creative process in these films too?

Shamitabh started out as an ode to Amitabh Bachchan's voice.

Abhishek was not a part of the cast, so he was hardly involved.

But in Paa, he contributed a lot; the idea for his costumes came from him.

He decided to model his look on his politician friend Sachin Pilot.

I wrote the dialogue in Ghoomer, 'Loser kya feel hota mujhe pata hai' after jamming with him.

Everybody knows how a winner feels, but for a loser, there's no logic, it's just the magic which is not happening.

Abhishek is extremely sensitive and Ghoomer came from the depths of that sensitivity.

From Paa to Ghoomer, have you noticed any changes in him as an actor and a person?

For me, he's not any different from the Abhishek I met that first day.

Maybe there is a little less leg pulling now, though he still rags people.

At the same time, he is always so mature, sensitive and caring.

A lot of sensitive people think only about themselves, they don't exhibit the same sensitivity towards others, but the reverse is true for Abhishek.

He knew Saiyami (Kher) had a really difficult role.

She plays Anina Dixit aka Ani, a batting prodigy who loses her right hand in a freak accident and now, the only way she can make it to the Indian women's cricket team is to become a bowler and adopt the unconventional technique of spin bowling Abhishek's Padam Singh Sodhi aka Paddy, a failed cricketer and now her coach, is forcing on her.

The kind of support Abhishek gave her was unbelievable. He treated her like a younger sister.

Is he a good cricketer in real life too?

I would say he is a better footballer, but he loves cricket.

He loves all sport and can do anything for any sport.

Apart from films and sport, what are his other passions?

He loves food though now he doesn't indulge in it.

(Laughs) I keep telling him, 'Why do you want to sacrifice passion for vanity?'

Apart from food, he enjoys stimulating conversation, watching different things and reading.

How would you evaluate him as an actor?

I love Abhishek as an actor, I think he is one of the most contemporary actors we have.

Unfortunately, while we celebrate them in Hollywood, back home, we don't write scripts for actors who stand apart from the rest.

Our cinema is so different that sometimes talents like Abhishek don't get their due recognition because the kind of roles they need to shine are not available to them.

I keep telling him that he should do films with urban themes.

There is a huge audience for them today and there are not too many better actors than Abhishek, who is so modern in his thinking and approach.

He can say so much with one little expression.

Which are some of the performances that have stayed with you over these 25 years?

I can't believe it has been 25 years since Abhishek started acting. To me, he is still the same boy.

He has given some really wonderful performances.

From my own films, I would pick Paa and Ghoomer.

Mani Ratnam's Yuva is beautiful. His hired goon, Lallan Singh, is so raw and edgy.

I like the assassin of Bob Biswas very much.

Manmarziyaan and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna are very nice.

He is so cool in Delhi 6.

Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar and even the first 20 mins of his Naach absolutely blew my mind.

After that, the film went somewhere else but Abhishek, in a role which was not so well-defined, was understated and captured the nuances of his character, Abhinav, also an actor, so beautifully.

It's interesting that you should pick Naach. After over two decades, not too many people remember that film.   

There are many more films and performances.

Abhishek has superb comic timing in films like Dostana, Bunty Aur Babli and Bol Bachchan.

I love him in Rohan Sippy's crime comedy, Bluffmaster.

More recently, I liked him in Anurag Basu's Ludo and Shoojit Sircar's film, I Want To Talk, which is an interesting experiment.

If you were to make a film with Abhishek today, what would it be?

It will have to be something really special that comes from deep in the heart.

(After a thoughtful pause) Maybe I will make an out-and-out comedy with him now.

Ghoomer in many ways was a satirical comedy.

Finally, in his silver jubilee year, what would you like to say about him?

Abhishek Bachchan's time is coming.