Meeting Amitabh Bachchan

                This was written almost a decade ago

It’s not too often that one gets a chance to meet one’s heroes.  

I thought I would have clutched the prospect when it presented itself. But I surprised myself with mixed feelings about what was an opportunity of a lifetime.

For me, the Big B has always been an icon such as that I dare say idolized him since I can remember living on this planet. I watched his movies umpteen number of times and can remember several dialogues by heart. I can identify the film by merely looking at promotional stills. I learned Hindi by mimicking the many dialogues of Amitabh Bachchan.

Amitabh Bachchan is a huge part of my life. I often use his lines while talking and regularly make references to his film. Even today I get excited when an Amitabh Bachchan is announced. I even cheer when I see him in adverts on the big screen.

The concern was if for some inexplicable reasons he didn’t live up to my expectations. What if for some reason the brilliance on screen just doesn’t translate to the individual. Maybe he was in a bad mood on that particular day. Maybe something doesn’t work.

Perhaps the myth would be irreparably broken and the enjoyment would end. This would cause me to not being able to watch an Amitabh Bachchan movie again without thinking of the man that never lived up to it.

We have heard this happen;  people who look great in still pictures or moving pictures just do not have the 'it' factor when you see them in real. How often people gleefully asserting that film stars are not so impressive in person.   

To be honest, I never really thought the thing would materialize, coz when something seems too easy and too good to be true, it probably isn’t.

But still, I had nothing to lose. I attempted to flush down all my expectations and concerns to the darkest corner of my mind. Finally, the call was received, it seems was certain that I was to attend the shoot and meet the big man.

On the day of the occurrence, I woke up in the morning as excited as I was to watch an Amitabh Bachchan action movie. Except I was going to see him in person. Lots of excitement and expectations and behind all this with some concern about the possibility of the myth being broken.

Unnecessary pessimism also struck in. What if nature conspired to prevent the shoot. What if it rained. What if there was a record-breaking traffic jam. What if the shoot for some reason was canceled. What the person with passes didn’t turn up. What if for some reason like not having an identity card I get rejected. The joy was replaced by nerves, almost as if I had to reach an examination.

After a long ride in an auto-rickshaw through and dodging the Janmashtami crowds, we finally arrived at the Goregaon film city. The excitement and sort of jumpiness continued. My friend and I saw a large vanity var parked near the entrance studio and wondered if he was in the van.

“I’m probably ten feet away from Amitabh Bachchan,” I thought to myself.

Sir Michael Caine once said that film stars are paid handsomely not for their work, but for their waiting around aimlessly before the shoot begins. I now know what Sir Michael meant.

The shoot was supposed to commence at 3.30pm. We were informed of a minor delay, hence it would be postponed to 4pm, quite soon it was 4.30pm. It was almost 5.40pm and there was not a sign of any progress.

The lack of concern shown by the studio people was annoying but what can one do. We had been told that there are some more ‘celebs’ attending and hence things had to be pushed but who cared for them.  For me, they were a side, side, side dish. The prolonged hunger caused a slight headache and irritation. At 5pm we were served a meal that did very little to diminish the irritation.

Finally, the endless wait concluded at 6.30pm, we were escorted into the studio. We stopped near the dark area behind the studio. We waited with considerable excitement. The concerns were gone perhaps our energy was sapped by then.  Then we were direct into the arena that seemed much smaller than and expected and the interior looked much, much smaller than it looked on TV.

 

Was this a bad sign, if the studio is smaller, was it likely that everything else would seem smaller i.e. disappointing. I decided to push those thoughts away and allow things to just happen.  

On the positive side, the smallness of the studio meant that we would be closed to our idol. A second concern crept in “what if he was to be position with his back facing us. We would not be able to see him. Before I could think anymore, the warm-up session began. We were given instructions from the studio people about the practices to be followed and when to applaud.

Thirty minutes passed and now much occurred.  With each shadow appearing from the entrance, we thought is that him but alas wasn’t.  Several minutes passed and while the mind was elsewhere suddenly from the opposing side of the set the big man comes energetically walking in shaking hands of all the contestants and waving to the crowd around.

I could scarcely believe my eyes. In one word the moment was ‘surreal’. I thought “this cannot be him, that’s actually a robot who looks like the guy on screen and walks and talks like him. Perhaps the dept of robotics has created a robot coz Amitabh Bachchan isn’t real. This cannot be happening. Was this an optical illusion? Was I dreaming?”

But it was and after a few minutes, I settled to the fact that here was the man who I have seen on countless film screens in front of me a fully functioning human being. The atmosphere of the set suddenly changed, the air was brimming with positivity and energy.

Also, the studio execs who were walking and chattering around suddenly turned quiet. I was still pinching myself. This is Amitabh Bachchan, the Amitabh Bachchan, it doesn’t get any bigger.  He stood in the middle of the studio and looked around and waved. 

“The lights, what’s with the lights?” he said to the studio people in his deep baritone.  It’s clear that the man knows everything about the studio down to the very last-minute detail. Make no mistake, this was not yell nor was it even remotely rude, all it was but a firm and gentle reminder that things were wrong and that he won’t suffer fools. I noticed that every eye in the audience was firmly set on him.

 

But this didn’t distract him he was completely, totally, and utterly focused on the job at hand. He did respond to the many greets and cheers but the focus never left him. He walked around the area; he seemed to want to absorb the atmosphere around him. He looked majestic, he looked in charge, he had a mixture of authority and approachability. He was formidable yet sociable. That, I suspect it what superstars are made of.

Then the magic began, the opening monologue –all I can say was it was total perfection in every department voice modulation, pronunciation, and body language – this is a true master of his domain (I don’t mean the in the Seinfeld sense). He exuded such confidence and yet it was never arrogance. You know and he knows that he is the man and he is in charge and nobody does it better than him.

 

Since the program is to be broadcasted on Ganesh Chaturthi he threw petals on the ground and during the monologue. He then welcomed Shahid and Sonam Kapoor and made poor Shahid recite the lengthy opening line, this got titters from Sonam and the audience. Shahid pleaded that he couldn’t manage hence he then broke it down into manageable chunks.

The first segment was done and they cleaned up the set and he went and sat in the corner where nobody could see him. Then when he came back people spontaneously applauded, this happened each time he went and re-emerged.  He was talking to one of the crew members when he noticed some petals remaining on the ground and he actually picked up one – soon the team got it cleaned up. But it showed that the man wanted nothing short of perfection. Even a slight speck of dust meant relegation to mediocrity and that would not be acceptable for him.

 

 The ball was rolling the show began with the first contestant. The demeanor was the way we see on the show a friendly guide. He made the occasional joke he talked to the contestant about their ( the contestant’s ) favorite actress. I also noticed during the phone-a-friend round he saw the contestant wasting time on the call and he pushed him to hurry up and cut to the chase i.e. the question.  This helped the guy get the right answer. Show he cares and wants to enable the person to win the maximum amount. The guy was done and we had another break.

Then Shahid and Sonam came in and the show went on. Here we had people come from the audience requesting to dance with Shahid and Sonam. There were times when the sound wasn’t loud enough and the Big B pointed that out to the people. “The sound seems to have gone drastically down” were his words. Although he wasn’t the director I felt he was calling the shots and there were times when. The staff in the studio got to work to make sure that things were fixed.

Despite the passage of time I still felt surreal. How could the Amitabh Bachchan is feet away from me.

 

The really interesting bits were in between the shots to watch the man in person, his interaction with his co-workers in the Studio. He was mixed warmth and reserve. He was polite to cheers and yet never indulged in petty small talk. He kept saying that he was grateful that people came from all over.  I tried to listen to every bit of conversation he was having with Sonam and Shahid.

At one point he heard Sonam and Shahid were gossiping to each other as they went off the set without realizing that their mikes were on. “Please remember that your mikes are on” said the Big B the crowd laughed. He could have allowed them to make fools of themselves but he didn’t.  Then somebody asked him to for a dialogue from Deewaar or recitation from Madhushala.  He politely declined saying that it was not needed when we had a couple of “mahaan kalakar” i.e. great artists in Shahid and Sonam and people laughed thinking that he was being sarcastic, seems unlikely that he was.

 

This proceeded smoothly it was four hours of shoot and for the entire four hours not a moment where he messed his lines or there was the need for a retake coz of him. There were portions that had to be redone due to technical difficulties that he did without any hesitation and with the same enthusiasm as if it was being done for the very first time.

 

On one occasion of the retake, he actually was asked to ask the question with the contestant not being there. AB said “do we need Mahendra in the shot” again it is so important to remember names, something that I always forget. But he remembered it all by name. He didn’t say “do we need the contestant here.”  

I teach a class of thirty and do not consider it important to remember names. 

The show came to a closed. We were promised pictures but sadly we couldn’t take pictures with the man. The staff asked us to sit down and that we would be given our chance but we didn’t get it. At one point he climbed up and was quite near. I stood up and looked straight at him. So surreal, this is Amitabh Bachchan, the man not any man THE MAN himself.

 

I still cannot believe that I saw the man in person, was this a movie, or was it just TV or was it a dream? 

What a momentous day it was. I was told that shootings are boring, with lots of waiting and lots of retakes. But nothing of that sort ever happened. The man is so fantastic that he didn’t even miss one syllable it was all done in the first take. The most efficient shoot, it had been the fastest four hours ever, we went without water or food and nobody in the audience seemed remotely distracted.  I loved every bit of it, especially what happens during the breaks.  

Another great gesture by the man is he apologized for the delay, despite it not being his fault. He was there and the delay was caused by others. The Sony people didn’t even bother to apologize. In fact, some of them falsely promised us that each will get a chance for a pic but that didn’t happen. But these are silly minor occurrences considering the epic experience we had. I can safely say now that seeing my hero was a worthy experience. He surpassed all my expectations by leaps and bounds. Just brilliant.

I was a huge fan and now I am even a huger (pardon my English) fan.