At 69, Big B still pushing the limits

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Amitabh Bachchan turns 69 today. In between shooting episodes of Kaun Banega Crorepati, he talks to us about how he became a filmstar, why he failed in politics, his passion for new media and what keeps him going despite indifferent health and other setbacks:

KBC has become a roaring hit again, you are about to become a grandfather, Lata Mangeshkar says you should be awarded the Bharat Ratna... does life feel like a perfectly written script on your 69th birthday?
I feel that it’s another year that has passed and very grateful to the love and affection that I’ve received from the people of this country. It’s thanks to bessings of my parents, the goodwill of the almighty. What else?
 
The late Steve Jobs famously said that when you look back and connect the dots, a lot of things which didn’t make sense then do so now. When you connect your dots does that make you feel Saat Hindustani was pre-ordained?
Yes. I graduated and like all young men wanted a job to stand on my own feet. I went to Calcutta to look for a job and worked in a British Shipping Agency for about 6-7 years. Because of interest in drama and theatre — all at the amateur level — I just felt that I need to explore something in films. I left my job, came to Mumbai looking for a job. So yes, when you add the dots... when you look behind... it does lead me to Saat Hindustani.
 
What was the experience of working with someone like Khwaja Ahmed Abbas? That school of filmmaking and makers doesn’t exist anymore.
Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, whom we used to lovingly call Mamujaan, was, apart from being a fine filmmaker, also a great columnist and writer. He had certain principles in life. He was rooted to socialism. Everything that he did — whether it was his writings or his films — carried that kind of message. So when we were working in Saat Hindustani, we travelled by train and all of us lived in Goa in a government guest house. We would sleep on the floor as there were no beds. Mamujaan used to sleep on the floor so everybody slept on the floor... sab apni apni bedding le kar ke... There was no electricity, so we used to work in the night with lanterns. That’s how he used to make his films. It was fantastic grounding in learning a craft and of life.
You seem to have great inner resilience: your career’s seen ups and downs, there was an aborted stint in politics, a business venture that bombed badly, several health problems… what keeps you going?
I think these are events which most humans would face in life. I look upon them as destiny. I can be either submissive and say this is it. But I think until you get up and try you will never know what your capacity is. That’s what we keep doing, we keep testing our mind, our body. It is said in our lifetime we only use 35% percent of our brain so why not use 36% or 37%.
 
Is it true that your father had originally named you ‘Inquilab’?
This is a very casual reference actually. My mother was pregnant with me. It was 1942, the year the Quit India movement started. Allahabad was the seat of great political activity. It was the city of Motilal and Jawaharlal Nehru. Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu and everyone would visit it frequently. A lot of Satyagraha movements used to take place in the city. One day at such a protest, there was a lathi charge. Without telling the elders, my mother, in the spirit of the movement, had run out in the jooloos that was happening. All the men who got to know rushed there because in this advanced stage of pregnancy she could not get too emotional… So everyone joked if a boy is born we will name him Inquilab... kyunki wahan Inquilab Zindabad ke naare lag rahe the...
 
Is there anything that you regret... may be entering politics or the old friendships that got affected because of it?
I don’t regret it. I was unable to pursue politics because it’s something that I was not qualified for. It was like putting me in a cockpit and asking me to fly a plane which I don’t know how to do.

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