Aladin is simple yet cute, says Big B

Rajeev Masand: Amitabh Bachchan, welcome to the show.

Amitabh Bachchan: Thank you so much Rajeev.

Rajeev Masand: Mr Bachchan, can you describe your reaction when the director of Aladin Sujoy Ghose approached you to be a part of this film?

Amitabh Bachchan: Actually, I'll have to a little further back when Sujoy had been chasing me for several reasons to do films with him. He narrated few ideas. One particular idea that he was very persistent, it was not AladinAladin.

The moment I heard the story, I felt very attracted to it because it was very simple yet very cute. It had an old world charm because of the association with the story of Alladin and the Magic Lamp, but also because it was being contemporarised. It made a lot of sense and I just said fine, we will do it.

Rajeev Masand: From an audience perspective what's interesting is that it's a modern take in an old fable and something to reconnect with that we have grown up with, isn't it?

Amitabh Bachchan: Absolutely. And I must say that the facts of the old story are just there in few places -- there is the lamp, there is Aladin and there is the genie, and that's it. The location is interesting because it's a make believe though it is contemporary.

The lamp has been integrated in a peculiar way. Aladin's parents were looking out for something, which would bring world peace and then it gets lost and they get demolished. He (Aladin) is a weak and timid person in college. He keeps getting bullied by his seniors who are tougher and stronger than him.

He has always led a very reticent and reserved, exclusive life. And he sees a girl in college whom he falls in love with at first sight and needs to communicate with her but he doesn't have enough courage and energy. The gang that teases him in college is always teasing him because his name is 'Aladin'and they keep referring to the lamp in a sort of funny and sarcastic manner.

Every opportunity that they get, they either bring a lamp in his face and say, 'Come on rub it, some genie will come' or make fun of him. And they (the gang) convince the girl to give him a lamp as a present albeit in a joke but it turns out that the lamp indeed is the 'magic lamp'and he has to rub it in front of them because they are making fun of him and suddenly a man appears who is a genie and says -- I am genie and I have three wishes and I am 5000 years old and due for retirement and these are my last three wishes, so would you hurry and ask them because I need to get back.

And he can't believe what's happening to him because all kinds of strange magical things start happening. And eventually he confides that he loves the girl and that he wants her.

The genie says -- Ah! that's the wish. So very tactfully all these two wishes come true and Aladin being sort of a moral person says that he didn't want it this way and says that if he wanted to win this girl, he would win her through what he was and asks the genie could he make that wish come true for him.

So the genie does that. And through the last wish, Aladin becomes a normal person and through normal means he is able to pursue the girl that he is in love with and how they come together. There is the villianous angle of Sanjay Dutt, who is an ex-genie who is desparate to get the lamp and he knows where it is.

But he also knows that the genie that has come out, who is oddly named 'Genious' is protecting Aladin. There is a little twist there where Sanjay Dutt, who is playing as a ringmaster of a circus has a small element of the lamp with him which is almost like the Superman's kryptonic, where he would lose all his powers once he sees that. And he (Sanjay Dutt) uses that very tactfully to get to the lamp and steal it and then the climax of how Aladin and genie saves it and eliminates the other.

Rajeev Masand:You have done fantasy and magical films like Jaadugar and Ajooba, of course at that time, CGI (computer generated images) and special effects were in a very nascent stage in India, do you have memories of working on those films?

Amitabh Bachchan: Yes. We had to do all the magic ourselves. We had a permanent magician on the set. I remember for Jaadugar there was somebody from Bangalore and he would do all the tricks. But the fact is that in cinema, when you do magic no one believes that it's magic because they all know that the cinema has the wonderful facility of cinematically creating magic.

So that's a little tough. But now because of the computer graphics and that they had to be on a massive scale , it was very intelligently thought out by Sujoy in producing the gimmicks, which are not just a slight of hand but the whole configuration changes. That's very interesting.

Rajeev Masand:The craft of performing against blue screen, working with CGI, does that take some getting used to?

Amitabh Bachchan: Initially we never understood it but gradually in almost every other film you are doing this, not just in films but in commercial advertisements. I don't think it's really that difficult. We have wonderful people who explain to you as to what is happening so we work accordingly.

Rajeev Masand: It is nevertheless a leap of faith isn't it where you are really hoping that what is created eventually is of a quality and of a standard that you will be not embarrased of eventually?

Amitabh Bachchan: That is very important. I am happy to say that Sujoy has used some very efficient companies that have been working in the west on special effects and their work is absolutely phenomenal.

Some of the stuff that they have done on Aladin, they were saying that they hadn't done anything like this before. So a lot of credit needs to be given to them because they are the ones who have created this atmosphere. They have done a marvelous job.

Rajeev Masand: In your forthcoming film Pa, there is extensive use of prosthetics and advance make up. They convert you into a young boy, what was the challenge for you as an actor?

Amitabh Bachchan: To be honest, let's say in a film like Pa where a) they have to convert me into a body of a child that has been inflicted by a disease, so there is the disease part, then of course there is the age, because I am 68, and I have to play 12.

So all the demarcations are done on your face and on your body which I believe takes care of almost 80 per cent of your job. So all you have to do is then behave like a kid, which we are doing in most of our films (laughs) but I think the writings, the situation that the director creates needs to be adjusted and monitored very very intelligently because you can make a lot of mistakes.

I know that Balki (director) and me sat for months on end on this. In the first version that we wanted to do, I was not very happy because we were over obsessed by the fact that I was playing a 12 year old. And I think the moment you get obsessed with that you lose interest.

So I thought that the content be first paid attention to and then decide on the characters. We simplified a lot of it and found that worked better and eventually we arrived at the final screenplay of Pa.

Rajeev Masand: Are you enjoying to working in the films that are pushing the boundaries of technology?

Amitabh Bachchan: Oh yes, of course. I feel very happy and grateful whenever I get an opportunity to work in setups where the average age and my age difference is of almost 30 to 40 years. But it is wonderful to see the enthusiasm and energy and the desire to excel and do something different.

I feel very blessed that I happen to be in their minds and thoughts when they think of casting. I love the energy of this generation. I love the fact that everything is so well planned out. There are different departments to take care of each section.

When I say each section, I mean, you know within your face there could be four different people working at it. We never had such facilities earlier on. I am fortunate that all these I am able to see and I enjoy that very much.

Rajeev Masand: Your filmmaker and composers have repeatedly urged you to sing songs in the films that you are acting in, I know that you have been sort of reluctant ...

Amitabh Bachchan: Yes, very.

Rajeev Masand:How do you prepare yourself for that when you finally consent?

Amitabh Bachchan: Nothing. We just go and they say here's the song and you have to do it. But it's more dependent in the atmosphere in the studio. Vishal and Shekhar are young and enthusiastic and we are in back-slapping terms.

We just fool around, jamming, hitting some notes and suddently somebody puts the microphone on and we just record a song. And they say, this is it, we've got it. So it has all be just touch and go and flukey, nothing professional. We actually place the microphone where we sit and faff. That's how all of the songs as far as I am concerned has happened. But the others have to go through the whole procedure.

Rajeev Masand:You have actually lent your voice to two song from Aladin as well, one of them is a rap number, do you have a favourite song?

Amitabh Bachchan: I like the soft melody, the romantic song, 'You may be', it's a wonderful melody. The situation is nice, soft and cool. I like that song.

Rajeev Masand:In keeping with the theme of Aladin let me end by asking you the obvious question. If a genie grants you three wishes, what would they be?

Amitabh Bachchan: I have been struggling with this answer for the entire day and I haven't something credible but immediately, I wish that I could be let off from here and go to the next interview.

Rajeev Masand:Well, your wish is our command.

Amitabh Bachchan: Thank you.

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#To catch a star #Amitabh Bachchan #Rajeev Masand