One on one with Amitabh Bachchan, father of the Indian film industry

It's not often we get the chance to interview a screen legend. It's even rarer that anyone gets to sit and chat with arguably the biggest screen legend of all time. Certainly Amitabh Bachchan (also known as 'Big B'), has the biggest fan base of any movie actor. Ever. His blog, he claims, gets 1 million hits per day. And four decades into his remarkable career, he shows no signs of resting on any laurels. He just received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 4th Annual Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong and I was lucky enough to be granted a personal audience with the Indian megastar, whose work has helped define Indian cinema. 

Amitabh Bachchan on film

CNNGo: With American film coming to India and having influence on Indian film, and Indian film having influence on American film, there's sure to be some competition. You said that you see the competition as a good thing, but can Indian film retain its originality while competing with the special effects laden movies and action films of the West?

The West and Hollywood will always be the ones with the deeper pockets and greater technology, and yes when the technology is used in their craft it will definitely be superior. But each nation has its own capacity to create its own kind of cinema catering to the emotions -- moral and social -– within its own country, and I think those are the factors that will always be respected. 

Yes, we will admire the technical expertise of the West and their kind, but if they were to bring in their themes of social significance from their part of the world, they may not work in our part of the world. Which is why films like "Avatar" or "Titanic" or most of the action oriented films featuring the Bruce Lees or Jackie Chans find favor in India, while some of the foreign social themes do not. The Hindi version of "Slumdog Millionaire" which had its theme and content entirely from India, did not do very well here. As a concept -- as a story -- it was brilliantly made, but within India it was not that successful.

There will always be these kinds of cultural differences. I’m happy Indian cinema has not lost its originality, and that we continue to make films and continue to have our music, our song, our dance and our very escapist fare, of which the West has been very cynical at times. I think gradually now even that cynicism is being removed, even the West is beginning to accept this (Indian film) is a form of cinema that emanates from India, and that they need to respect it.

CNNGo: What are some Hindu, or regional movies you would suggest for somebody new to Indian film?

Oh, we make a thousand movies a year so its very difficult to choose. There are hundreds of them. If you were to appreciate some of the lyricism that existed in the 50s and 60s, we would suggest films of Mr Gurudutt and Mr Raj Kapoor who made some fantastic cinema. In the more recent generation, Aditya Chopra or the films of Shah Rukh Khan, they give a feel of Hindi film as do many of my own films including Paa.

CNNGo: In regards to the Asian film industry, how important is it that a relatively new institution like the Asian Film Awards succeeds?

I think every region has its own importance. A festival like this invites people from all over the world, and more particularly gives emphasis to the region itself. Creativity needs a lot of visibility, it needs attention. We all want our work to be seen and appreciated. Every creative artist in the world has the same vision that as many people as possible can see their work.

Such festivals (HKIFF and AFA) give an opportunity for the exhibition of creative work, for others to understand and realize what their competition and counterparts are up to, to share ideas, and to get into discussions and benefit from those discussions.

CNNGo: Speaking of being seen, you’ve been in over 180 films. How do you keep yourself going?

It's still quite a conservative figure by Indian standards. There are many that have actually gone beyond the 400 or 500 limit. But that’s unfortunately, or fortunately, the way our system works. We all started working in projects, say five or six or seven at the same time. More due to the fact the economics did not entirely allow us to concentrate on one project at a time from start to finish. The finance was not always available. Therefore the directors and producers would partly finance and shoot a portion of the film, show it and get some more money for it, then go back and shoot some more. This would be a fairly long process. So what does the artist do? He just sits and waits for the film to be completed, so we took on other jobs as well.

But now with the economics getting some assembelance of maturity, we’re now more comfortable in the procurement of finance. Our institutionized finances are available, many corporations have been formed, and therefore finances are not so much of an issue. We see there are now concentrated projects allowing start-to-finish (production) and the artists to work on just one (project) at a time.

Bachchan on blogging

CNNGo: You’re known as the father of the Indian film bloggers, how important would you say the blogging community is to the expansion of the Indian film industry?

I didn’t do it to deliberately to make an impression on the film industry, I just did it because I enjoy doing it. Blogging was something interesting. Somebody insisted I put up my own website, and I sat with some of the people who were making the (website) presentation. They said it could take another six or seven months before they could actually put one up and I said, “Oh that’s a long time, what do I do in between?” They said, "We have something called a blog and that can be put up immediately." I quite liked the concept and I started writing it.

I’m now on day 700, and I write everyday without a break. Its been a fantastic experience. Its more about the opportunity to be able to connect with the fans. Now the fans have a name, style, words, expression, a picture, abuse, criticism...they have everything they can put across. Its wonderful, I enjoy that. Its not all about just putting my impressions across, its a lot about what they feel.

I find there’s an exceeding number of intelligent people out there who have comments to make. They comment on everything from our actions, our acts, our kind of issues that we address, our sort of films we are doing...what we did wrong. We know there are people out there that don’t agree with everything, and for years and years we didn’t know what they really felt. But the blog provides the opportunity to get an instant reaction.

I find myself not just questioning them, but asking for some answers as well…like before I strike up a new project or on another actor's role. Its very interesting.

I have various sections on my blog, I have a polling section, I have a mobile app where I can write (a post) on my phone, I have twitter. Because it is so instant…its so remarkable, to be able to finish an event like the AFA last night, get up this morning and open my blog to find 400 hundred comments. (Check out the Big B blog.)

CNNGo: Instant feedback…

Yes, instant feedback. So that’s wonderful.

Bachchan at the Asian Film Awards, Hong Kong on March 22.

Bachchan on public image

CNNGo: You open up your blog in the morning and you have 400 comments, so you're reminded everyday there are millions of poeople constantly looking at you. How big of a deal is the image that you keep in the public eye?

I feel if you are in public life, if you are a celebrity, there are certain compulsions as to how you behave and how you conduct yourself in public, what you say and what you do. I feel a sense of responsiblitiy towards that. I feel it because my face and my voice are emulated at times by fans and well wishers, that you need to be careful.

Yes within the confines of your home, within closed doors you can have whatever opinion you want, you can behave in whatever manner you wish, but I think there are responsibilities when you go out in public as to how you conduct yourself, whether that is offending people, whether what you have said may be in disagreement with many people.

If you yourself are convinced (of public actions) and your conscience is clear, and if you’re sure this is the path you’re going to take, then fine go ahead and do it.

Bachchan on travelling and Mumbai

CNNGo: How about in your hometown, are there any places you can’t go because of your celebrity that you wish you could go to?

I don’t have a problem with that. If I want to go and see a movie, then I’m going to go see a movie. If I want to go to a restaurant, I would go there.

CNNGo: You travel quite a bit, do you have any favorite destinations or ‘top of your list’ type places?

Ah, well most of them are within my own country. I don’t necessarily step out of the country just because I want to be in another place. Sometimes our travels take us to the West, the East and the Middle East. We have many places that we go and we enjoy the environment and the atmosphere.

CNNGo: What are a few places in Mumbai you could not live without?

Just the city itself. Its so vibrant, it’s a place where if you if you don’t get up in the morning and get to work it will kick you out of bed and say “Get out there!” It pushes you. Much like New York actually.

CNNGo: How would you say Mumbai is compared to a city like Shanghai?

I haven’t been to Shanghai, but I’ve heard about it and I read a lot about it. And I think the fantastic progress and development taking place would put it in the same bracket.