Click to play videoNew Delhi: While his reel-life graph has only seen an upward curve, actor Amitabh Bachchan’s real life has been full of ups and downs.
From his alleged involvement in the Bofors scam, to the murky land deals, to the extravagant wedding for his son Abhishek, Indian film industry’s legend has been eulogised and criticised all the same.
In an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN’s Bhupendra Chaubey, Bachchan clears air on his status as farmer, his soured relationship with the Gandhis, his association with Amar Singh and the alleged rivalry with Shah Rukh Khan.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Hello and welcome to this CNN-IBN special. My guest on the show tonight is a man who has completely redefined the art of acting in our times. The more he advances in age, the finer his performances get. The one and only – Amitabh Bachchan. Welcome to the show, Mr Bachchan.
Amitabh Bachchan: Thank you so much for your kind words, most undeserving, but still thank you.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Perfectly deserving, many would say. From Saat Hindustani to Sholay to Coolie to Black - how is it that you have managed to straddle so many different genres of movies?
Amitabh Bachchan: I think if you are a professional actor, it comes with the territory. You get offered different kinds of roles and if you are fortunate enough to be viable for them as an artist, you just work along with them. Times change, stories change, makers changes, we as artists change our craft to suit the character that we are doing. That’s how you progress and move on.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Would you say there are similarities between your reel life and real life. In your reel life, it’s only been one way – a graph that has only moved up. But real life has been full of highs and lows.
Amitabh Bachchan: Well, thank God for that because we would be superhumans if we were what we are in reel life. We can’t fight 10 or 12 people at the same time and come out looking victorious. We can’t fly like Krrish or Superman or Spiderman. These are fascinating stories. We play characters. But life is different. It’s more human, there’s struggle, there’s strife and uncertainties, pitfalls, defeats, accusations, happiness, achievements – all of this makes life so beautiful.
Bhupendra Chaubey: How was it like growing up in the streets of Allahabad? Surely the Big B – as you are known now – was not the man he is when he was growing up.
Amitabh Bachchan: These epithets are media constructed and we don’t really believe in them. But just because you have created them, it doesn’t mean we have to start living up to them. We are very ordinary people, I am just another professional actor. My early years in Allahabad were just like any other small town boy's early years. You grew up, you went to school, studied.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Did you also go to the Ganga for a snan (bath) everyday?
Amitabh Bachchan: Most certainly, though not everyday. We went every weekend and very regularly to Sangam for walks.
Bhupendra Chaubey: And that’s where your relationship with the Gandhis also started.
Amitabh Bachchan: Yes, it did.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Through the years, as you grew up, your parents became very close to Gandhis and Rajiv Gandhi was your best friend.
Amitabh Bachchan: He was two years old when we met. He came to my fourth birthday party…
Bhupendra Chaubey: That was the first time you met him?
Amitabh Bachchan: Yes. But obviously, I don’t have a very vivid memory of that.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Over the years, your relationship with Gandhis grew and you were also the best man at Rajiv-Sonia’s wedding. Would it be fair to say that your relationship with Rajiv was the best relationship of your life? Was Rajiv Gandhi your best friend?
Amitabh Bachchan: Certainly yes. We’ve had a long association. Our parents knew each other for a very long time. We grew up together and we always maintained the dignity and the respect of the friendship.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Is Sonia Gandhi also your friend, sir?
Amitabh Bachchan: Certainly, yes.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Are you in touch with the Gandhis?
Amitabh Bachchan: I’d rather not talk about it, but yes I respect the association of my parents with the family. I will respect that till the end of my days and will pass this on to my family and my children as well.
Bhupendra Chaubey: In hindsight - looking over the past 30-40 years – in your real life, what are the two events where you think you went wrong or committed a mistake?
Amitabh Bachchan: We are all normal human beings. We have our fallacies, mistakes and faults. It could be taking up a wrong subject in school, or not performing well in front of the camera or associating with people with whom we should not have been associating with or taking wrong decisions in business. It could be anything.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Are you referring to Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL)?
Amitabh Bachchan: I don’t think I would particularly like to see that as a mistake. Instead I would say the vision was wonderful. Even now, it’s very pertinent and potent. Lot of other corporates are following the same principles or portions of it and succeeding. We failed in creating what we had set out to do. But having said that, we didn’t succumb to the failure and that’s important.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Do you still remember those times? Those were tough days.
Amitabh Bachchan: I hope I never forget them. We should always remember tough times.
Bhupendra Chaubey: And do you take lessons from them?
Amitabh Bachchan: Everyday. Not make the same mistakes you did them. Don’t take up projects you are not confident of doing. Don’t employ people who you aren’t confident will deliver the goods. Make sure what you sign and who you are signing it with.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Tell us about your relationship with Amar Singh. Every time I have asked Amar Singh this question, he has always said that Amitabh Bachchan is my brother, philosopher and guide. Would these be the adjectives you will use for him?
Amitabh Bachchan: Absolutely. And more.
Bhupendra Chaubey: But do you feel that because of you association with him and the Samajwadi Party, you are often being targeted by sections of media and also by the political fraternity? Does this thought cross your mind?
Amitabh Bachchan: I think it’s very natural. If you are a public figure, celebrity known beyond a certain number of people in society, then everything about you gets noticed. You will get talked about, people will want to know more about you and will question you. You will always have to be on guard and be on perfect behaviour, make sure you don’t say the wrong things and if you do, you are able to defend it.
Bhupendra Chaubey: There has been a lot of controversy. You wanted to surrender the land, which you had purchased in Barabanki in Maval. The UP Chief Minister says that the land doesn't belong to you. What is the truth?
Amitabh Bachchan: Yes, there was land. I had a certificate from the district magistrate in Barabanki confirming that the land is mine. The certificate was required by the land that I was purchasing in Bhavna in Maharashtra. I submitted that to them, they studied it and they gave me a possession document. Everything was fine.
Two or three years later they suddenly say no that certificate is wrong and I am in court now. There was a great amount of drama and sarcasms and a mocking attitude at me becoming a farmer. I really wanted to ask several people who really is a farmer. Dictionary says it’s someone who tills the land.
But there are hundreds of farmers in this country who hold agricultural land. Are they going to be termed farmers as well? Because they include politicians, industrialists, doctors, chartered accountants, diamond merchants and God knows who.
So either you say that the person who hold agricultural land is a farmer and therefore do not mock him. Because if I hold land that is agricultural, I have the right to be called a farmer according to what the Government says. So stop being sarcastic.
And if you are mocking me by putting farmer in quotes against my name, then please mock and be sarcastic to hundreds of others who have farmlands in the countryside.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Could it be that because of your equation with Amar Singhji and Mulayam Singhji you have been surrounded with controversies like being accused of income tax invasion? Also the accusation that you being a fake farmer and of forging documents in Barabanki courts, is there a relationship between the two?
Amitabh Bachchan: Why do you only relate it today and if you relate it today then how would you explain when I was hounded for Bofors. It was at that time that Mr Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister and he was my friend.
Bhupendra Chaubey: That still hurts you. Do you often think of Bofors because those were the bad days for you? You had to quit from Parliament.
Amitabh Bachchan: Bad days and good days come and go. This is part of life. I am happy that I fought and cleared my name. The incentive for that was a coffee-table book by Times of India that featured 150 pages from their history. While I was going through it, I read on front page of one of them: Amitabh Bachchan is a traitor. And I said, when I am dead and gone and my grandchildren were to read this, they will think their grandfather was a traitor.
So to rectify that, I fought. So now when Times of India brings out another edition of 350 years of their existence, my great grandchildren will say: My grandfather was accused, but he fought and he won.
Bhupendra Chaubey: “UP mein hai dum, kyunki jurm hai yahan kum. Do you regret having said those lines?
Amitabh Bachchan: Not at all. It’s a fact.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Are you personally convinced that these lines were based on facts?
Amitabh Bachchan: Not just me but the Central Government too is convinced of the fact. I merely read what the script of the Central Government report came out with. UP was 26th or 27th on that list. And very recently, The Times of India carried a front-page article where Mumbai was declared the second city in the country that has the highest crime rate. And would you believe it that it’s Delhi that is number one?
Bhupendra Chaubey: That created a lot of controversy as well. It was not clear whether it was a political campaigning that you were doing for the Samajwadi Party or not. Would you continue to do ads such as these?
Amitabh Bachchan: I have never said anything political on any platform ever since I left politics. I have never indulged in anything political. That was a campaign for my state as the brand ambassador of the UP Development Council, (for being) appointed by the council and being born and brought up in that state. I have had generations of my family lived and died there. I am a citizen of India and I want to propagate Uttar Pradesh, wanting to invite investment, development.
When we talk about UP, we conveniently forget about what’s happening in the rest of the country. Look at Nandigram, Chattisgarh with the Naxalite movement there, the killings that are happening in these places. What has happened in Rajasthan recently? In Andhra Pradesh, recently there was police firing. Nobody wants to talk about that. Everyday, there is rape and murder in the streets of Mumbai and Delhi. Nobody wants to talk about that.
You want to pick up one incident that happened in UP and make it sound as though it’s the worst thing that has ever happened. That is wrong.
Bhupendra Chaubey: These are the words that are often used by the SP leaders.
Amitabh Bachchan: I am not from the Samajwadi Party. I am a common man. You are accusing me of having done an advertisement.
Bhupendra Chaubey: You said that if you were not associated with a particular individual or political outfit, the ads whether it’s about UP or those about polio awareness, would have had a greater impact.
Amitabh Bachchan: You are trying to tell me that constitutionally, my freedom of expression needs to be curbed. You can’t do that me. I am an individual and I have my rights to express myself. Yes, if I do something, which is illegal, or against the rules, laws of the country, please hang me. But I must have my freedom of expression.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Is politics a closed chapter in your life?
Amitabh Bachchan: Yes.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Is politics something you never want to go back to?
Amitabh Bachchan: No.
Bhupendra Chaubey: You are always under the microscopic eye - you go to a temple with your family members, it becomes headlines in newspapers. You are accused of being superstitious. Does all that bother you sometimes?
Amitabh Bachchan: I think its more to do with what media thinks about it, than we do. We think it is very normal, natural occurrence. We go several times to the temple. But its when the media chooses to highlight it, that’s when the rest of the people in the country start thinking that its probably wrong, superstitious or whatever.
But we are okay with that. It’s not going to stop me from going to the temple.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Is Amitabh Bachchan a religious man or a superstitious man?
Amitabh Bachchan: I am a religious person.
Bhupendra Chaubey: But the answer to the second question…superstitious?
Amitabh Bachchan: That is personal.
Bhupendra Chaubey: I remember sometime back, in a newspaper you were quoted as saying that soon you would like to be the granddad. It’s a statement that you didn’t meant to deny. Was there any truth in it?
Amitabh Bachchan: Every father wants his son to get married and to have grand children. I expressed a similar desire, but the context in which it was said was mischievously construed to put across to the public. I had to face a lot of anguish and anger. It was lyricist Sameer’s book release when he came on the mike and said, “We come from the same state and that him and I have an association. He said that his father famous lyricist Anjaan wrote lyrics for sings in films that featured Amitabh.”
He said, “I am Sameer Anjaan’s son and I’m writing songs for Amitabh’s son Abhishek.”
He further said that “I have a son and now I hope one day he will write lyrics and songs for Abhishek’s son.” Matter over. I was later asked to go and say a few words. I thanked Sameer for his kind words and everything and said, “I better rush home now and tell Abhishek to produce a son because I want Sameer’s wishes to be fulfilled.”
The media said, “Amitabh Bachchan wants a grandson.” Some NGO, in fact, accused me of supporting gender bias. In fact they have taken me to court. But actually they got the whole fact wrong.
Bhupendra Chaubey: You are not a gender biased person?
Amitabh Bachchan: My brother has three daughters. My first child was a daughter.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Even when your son got married, there was a stampede outside your house and then ultimately, you had to issue a clarification to the photographers, journalists who had a swarmed outside of your house.
Amitabh Bachchan: I just did it out of a friendly gesture.
Bhupendra Chaubey: You had a love-hate kind of relationship with the media.
Amitabh Bachchan: I did not boycott the media. They banned me. It was felt during the time of Emergency that the Press ban was brought out by me because of my relationship with the Gandhi’s, which was rubbish. And then, they banned me.
And when they banned me, I felt that I could do something similar. I didn’t speak to them for several years.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Lets talk a bit about your movies. You once said that Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai are some of your favourite movies. You support the sentence that is given to actor Sanjay Dutt in the 1993 blasts case? Do you think it is too harsh a statement?
Amitabh Bachchan: I'm saddened because he is such a good friend. But if this is what the law wants and this is what the courts have said, then we must respect them.
Bhupendra Chaubey: A lot has also been said about an ongoing rivalry of sorts between you and Shah Rukh Khan. He is King Khan and you are the Badshah of Bollywood. Do you ever take this seriously or is it just a fragment of media’s imagination?
Amitabh Bachchan: It is a figment of the media’s imagination. There is nothing wrong about that at all. You make us enemies, then friends. You make a good copy, but we still remain the same.
Bhupendra Chaubey: If I were to ask you to choose between son Abhishek as an actor and Shah Rukh Khan. Who would you go for?
Amitabh Bachchan: I would go for Shah Rukh Khan because he is a better actor.
Bhupendra Chaubey: What is it that you would want Abhishek to do? Would you want him to join politics at some stage or is that a no-no for him?
Amitabh Bachchan: I would strongly advise him not to.
Bhupendra Chaubey: You have been very hurt of politics. Isn’t it?
Amitabh Bachchan: I have just been a little pragmatic about it because I don’t know politics. I have failed at that. I’m not even qualified for it. I’m certainly not qualified to be looking after some constituency. Why expose my inadequacy on the country or a constituency? I would rather accept defeat.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Just before the Presidential elections were held you name was also floating around. Would you ever want to be the President of the country? That’s an apolitical post.
Amitabh Bachchan: That must be the biggest joke of the century. I am not qualified for that post either.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Thank you Mr Bachchan, it was a pleasure talking to you.
Amitabh Bachchan: Thank you.
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