What Ails Mr Bachchan?

Bad judgement, arrogance or twilight years – what ails the star who re-defined Bollywood cinema as it is today? Jackass is not a word one normally associates with Amitabh Bachchan. But this innocuous noun is the latest peeve in a list of peeves Mr Bachchan has had for some time now.  So in the Masand vs Bachchan brouhaha, Bachchan missed out the crass gimmickry of Akshay Kumar posing with the seriously ill R K Laxman at Breach Candy hospital. The usually erudite star didn’t question who came up with this ill-timed stunt? Who allowed Akshay Kumar to preen in a hospital? Oh wait…isn’t there some mega crores riding on Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s back this year? Some of those depend on Akshay Kumar, her next co-star in Action Replayy.

So why has Amitabh Bachchan metamorphosed to Albert Pinto and imbibed the trademark gussa?  When he’s not playing cop on Twitter, Bachchan Senior takes time out to take pot-shots at the media on his blog. I am losing count at the number of petulant outbursts ‘rebutting’ yet another ‘biased’ media story. Honestly, why does Bachchan think he is always at the receiving end of media prejudice?

Amitabh Bachchan’s peevishness at the media didn’t really begin with his clashes over the Bachchan family’s reported superstitions at the time of Abhishek’s wedding. Or at the time of his 6-page letter trashing Jug Suraiya’s column in The Times of India for questioning Bachchan’s comments on Slumdog Millionaire. It’s always been there, as far back as the 80s.

Read Jug Suraiya’s column here.

The 15-year Stardust ban on Bachchan.

What began in the 80s carries on. So woe betide anyone questioning why the Bachchan family zips around in SUVs while expressing concern over the environment. Or were those endorsements? Paid spots? Amitabh Bachchan will rake up Dr Manmohan Singh, Ratan Tata, the Ambanis and anyone else with a gas guzzler in their vicinity.

Did Aishwarya Rai marry a peepul tree in Varanasi, a banana tree in a Bangalore temple and a god’s idol in Ayodhya, before she married Abhishek Bachchan? Is Amitabh Bachchan pressuring the couple to have a child?  Who knows? None of us can claim to be privy to information within the four walls of the Bachchan home or wherever they hold their family conferences.

Who cares? That’s just the point – several million.  Amitabh Bachchan has had a huge influence on the cultural zeitgeist. He’s been a superstar for a lifetime. Surely that’s enough time to know the objectification that goes with it. Stars are put on a pedestal and routinely brought down so for the general public, larger-than-life figures have a more vulnerable face as well. These aren’t lessons Amitabh Bachchan needs to learn or pointed too. He’s no novice.

Unless, the pressure is telling on Amitabh Bachchan. When Aishwarya Rai, joined the family, the valuation of Brand Bachchan was estimated to be at Rs 700 crore. Amitabh Bachchan endorses a multitude of products. So does Aishwarya. With the recession hitting full on, the endorsement space is shrinking. Towards the end of 2008, Cadbury dropped Amitabh Bachchan from its commercials. At a reported Rs 3-4 crore per ad, Amitabh Bachchan does not rule the roost anymore. Box office duds and controversial political rows and cronies have cost him.

So here comes frustration point 2. There is no one to pass the baton to. In the age of instant gratification and youth driving consumerism, Aishwarya Bachchan has younger actresses sniping at her heals. At 36, she may be touted as India’s crossover queen but others like Frieda Pinto and Mallika Sherawat are pretty darn close.

Ash with Eva Longoria on the Cannes Red Carpet this year, for L’Oreal – would Sonam look better?

Abhishek Bachchan is nothing to write home about – in films or Bollywood. In February this year, LG picked Akshay Kumar as its new face. Apparently Abhishek wanted Aishwarya to be part of the campaign as well, which didn’t fly with the bosses at LG. Now why would he do that?  If he thinks they look better together, I am not disputing that. But for the record, MS Dhoni has a good-looking wife too. They look great together and she loves the camera – unabashedly. Besides, there’s something very real about the Dhonis – not icy and artificial.

Mrs Dhoni preens for the camera.

Whatever the pressures on the Bachchan family -Brand Bachchan losing sheen, health issues, flop films, rivalry, envy (India’s biggest star did not bring home the Oscar) bad friends and political choices – Amitabh Bachchan cannot get personal.

Aamir, Big B Tweet talk

All of us who grew up on a heavy dose of Bollywood will die for this one to happen. I know I will for sure. If current trends are to go by, Twitter can perhaps champion this all by itself and stake its claim for getting two of the most talented actors in this era to come together for the first time.

We all know how meticulous Aamir Khan can be when it comes to movie-making. He devours a character during the entire making of a film and undergoes a physical transformation of sorts for that tenure.  And then there is our very own Big B whom I would fondly like to call the first citizen of Bollywood. While Big B and Shah Rukh’s product endorsement blitzkriegs are well-known, our perfectionist a.k.a Aamir Khan is extra cautious even in picking the brands that he endorses. This man really walks the talk. For instance, he uses a Samsung phone, a brand he endorses.

Big B finally convinced Aamir to hop on to Twitter as a means to build a rapport with his fans. After all, it is also the in-thing nowadays. It took a bit of thinking, but Aamir finally got on to the Twitter bandwagon. Understandably, he follows Big B (besides Salman, Imran and Karan Johar) and the tweet exchanges between these two Bollywood icons are always a pleasure read.

A huge fan of both these personalities, I can’t help but imagine a time when they will finally come together for a film, thanks to the bond that is now being cemented by Twitter. As a movie buff I have always envisioned a Shawshank Redemption-like script starring Big B and Aamir. What a delight that would be? The original version had Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, two powerhouses of acting.

Conversations between the two range from the FIFA World Cup to Rafael Nadal. Aamir’s respect for Big B became evident when he actually took to the latter’s suggestion and joined Twitter. He in fact began tweeting with a classic Urdu line as a mark of respect for Big B. As I see both these icons exchange notes on Twitter, I can’t help but dream of a film with both in it. Twitter is indeed turning out to be one Bollywood bonding tool.

Here are some excerpts from Big B’s and Aamir’s conversations on Twitter –

1. 
   SrBachchan @aamir_khan Brazil-Argentina in a penalty shoot out in the finals !! 01 Jul 2010 from web in reply to aamir_khan
2. 
   aamir_khan @SrBachchan with #Arg winning! 🙂 01 Jul 2010 from Twitter for Android in reply to SrBachchan
3. 
   SrBachhann @aamir_khan Morning ! Told you of the ‘madness’ you would create .. barely 2 days and over 70,000 followers.. that’s immense .. 02 Jul 2010 from web
4. 
   aamir_khan @SrBachhann thanks to you, sir 🙂 02 Jul 2010 from Twitter for Android in reply to SrBachhann
5. 
   SrBachchan T46 -Don’t feel like watching anymore football ! Brazil out ! Unbelievable !! Oh ! heartbreaking .. 02 Jul 2010 from web
6. 
   aamir_khan @SrBachchan Sir, Argentina! 02 Jul 2010 from Twitter for Android in reply to SrBachchan
7. 
   SrBachchan @aamir_khan I do !! After the midnight game !!.. this evening Nadal-Berdych at Wimbledon 04 Jul 2010 from web in reply to aamir_khan
8. 
   aamir_khan @SrBachchan what is your prediction, sir? 04 Jul 2010 from Twitter for Android in reply to SrBachchan
9. 
   SrBachchan @aamir_khan nadal so far .. But in this unpredictable season can’t say anything .. You ..? 04 Jul 2010 from Twitter for BlackBerry® in reply to aamir_khan

— this quote was brought to you by quoteurl

Will Better Sense Prevail?

Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai

The non-presence of the entire Bachchan khandaan at the recently concluded IIFA awards has raised a few eyebrows and murmurs among both the organizers and other Bollywood stars.

Some say the reason behind the decision is over Rs. 100 cr riding on the ‘Bachchan bahu’ this year in the industry with big ticket releases like Raavan and Endhiran.

But Nikhil Dwivedi refuted reports that “Raavan” director Mani Ratnam and actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai skipped the IIFA event here because of the Tamil protests back home and said this was just not true.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the leading lady in two of the much awaited releases this year – Mani Ratnam’s bi-lingual ‘Raavan’ and Shankar’s ‘Endhiran’ in which she is paired opposite superstar Rajnikanth.

Despite Raavan’s leading lady/reigning Bollywood queen and her hubby giving the festival a miss, the film’s producer/director Mani Ratnam is keeping his fingers crossed as Govinda, who plays a crucial part in the Hindi version, attended the event in Sri Lanka, even though a section of the protestors have said that they will not allow the movie to be screened in Tamil Nadu.

Film stars of Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood, Sandalwood and Mollywood are often the soft targets of political opportunists, and the latest target of this has been ironically an actor from Bollywood – Hrithik Roshan and his latest release ‘Kites’ was taken off from all the screens in Tamil Nadu.

The reason – Hrithik attended the IIFA awards in Sri Lanka last week, despite the fact that the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC) decided to boycott all the actors who attend the IIFA awards at Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Earlier, a joint statement was issued by the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC) not to release films of those Indian actors and technicians who attended the India International Film Academy 2010 event.

Given the backdrop, Kollywood is not new to the inherent ties between the political parties and top film personalities. Former chief minister’s MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalitha were stars in their own rights and became successful politicians, while actor Sivaji Ganesan was close to the Congress party.

The present chief minister Dr M Karunanidhi, known for his oratory skills, has penned dialogues in many movies which went to become a rage among the masses.

Tamil actors Vijaykanth, Sarath Kumar and Karthik run their own parties while actress Khusboo recently joined the ruling DMK, which clearly establishes the fact that politics and Tamil cinema are like two peas in a pod. Almost every actor and actress have has shown their allegiance to one political party or the other.

Though a handful of stars still remain neutral, over the years one has seen that they also move in the direction where the wind blows primarily because they don’t want their movies to suffer.

In 2002, Superstar Rajnikanth’s ‘Baba’ bombed at the box office following PMK’s open call to boycott the movie and there were instances of the movie reel being snatched from the theatres.

Two years later, PMK cadres again crossed swords with another star – Vijaykanth during the release of ‘Gajendra’, which subsequently resulted in the actor making a foray into politics.

Actor Kamal Hassan, who is also the FICCI Media Entertainment Business Conclave Chairman, said the office-bearers of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will not attend the event. His statement came in the backdrop of a demonstration by a group demanding his resignation as the Chairman and that he return his Padma Shri award.

While the entire South Indian film fraternity including Rajnikanth gave a miss to the mega event, Bollywood mega stars led by IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, to name a few, apparently decided to keep away from the event citing personal reasons.

IIFA’s decision to host the awards event in Sri Lanka angered many Tamil supporters in India, who allege the Sri Lankan government of killing Tamils civilians at the height of the conflict between army and LTTE last year. A group of Tamils had marched from superstar Amitabh Bachchan‘s Pratiksha bungalow to his Jalsa residence in Mumbai last month urging him to boycott the Colombo awards ceremony.

Earlier, the General Secretary of the Chamber, L Suresh, and the President of the Chamber C Kalyan and G Siva, General Secretary of the Film Employees Federation of South India, were in Mumbai to persuade their counterparts in the city against visiting Sri Lanka for the IIFA awards and were partly successful in convincing producer Yash Chopra and Ramesh Sippy to stay away from the event.

He said the SIFCC put forth its view before the Bollywood producers, saying that they were not against the event. “Innocent Tamils have been killed and Sri Lankan government is creating an atmosphere that everything is normal. The reality must be shown to the world and this was not the time to do a show like this,” Suresh said.

Whatever the reason, the question one would like to pose to the protestors is why target only the film industry? When politicians, the Indian cricket team currently in the Emerald Island to play the Asia Cup or business houses can go freely to participate in events in the neighboring nation, why stop film personalities alone?

The Tallest Bachchan

I have always felt that should be Jaya Bachchan.  So what if physically she’s the shortest Bachchan in the clan. The rest of them stand head and shoulders above her. In stature though, she is the tallest Bachchan.

We like to ooh-ah over the ‘other woman’ stories (isn’t that why Hindi soaps have us hooked?) so over the years tomes have been written about the enduring romance of Rekha and Amitabh.

I say the bigger chemistry lies between Amitabh and Jaya.

For being a celebrity couple for 37 years – heck, some in Bollywood don’t make it beyond 1.

For enduring illnesses and losses together

For losing old friends together

For making new friends together

For being iconic actors

For pulling through the gossip

Many years ago as a junior reporter, I covered a Holi party hosted by the Bachchans. In the industry, the Bachchans and Kapoors had the best Holi dos. Sadly both have dwindled over the years.

I was struck by Mrs B’s stature even then. The compound was full of stars and industrywallahs all day and in the midst of it all – Mrs B was the one in charge. Insiders say she is the pivot of the house who has held it all together all these years.

Mrs B, congrats on 37 years of togetherness – you stand tall.