Last year, he bagged an award as Auro — a 13-year-old boy caught in an ageing body — in Paa. Now Amitabh Bachchan hopes to wow audiences as a senior citizen who is at heart a 25-year-old in Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap (I am not old, but I bet your dad is). “One thing’s for sure: Mera baap buddha nahin hai (My father isn’t old),” says his son (and would-be father) Abhishek Bachchan. The senior Bachchan seems to demur. One has to accept one’s age, he says.

Q: So you are going to be a nana?

A: I am excited about becoming a dada, not a nana. I am already a nana, but this is for the first time that I am going to be a dada!

Q: What kind of relationship do you share with your children — Abhishek and Shweta?

A: I have always loved my children equally. Even before they were born Jaya and I had decided we would not differentiate between our son and daughter. Before Abhishek was born I had decided that if I had a boy I would make him my best friend. The day Abhishek wore my shoes, he became my friend. Now we both share a chemistry that friends share. He tells me everything and never hesitates to discuss any matter with me. But I have always kept some space for Shweta because, being a girl, she needs an independent environment. I have given her all the freedom a girl needs.

Shweta is the first Bachchan in this generation. Because Jaya and I do not consider Shweta paraya dhan, we have already decided that whatever little that we have will be divided between both Abhishek and Shweta equally, when I die.

Q: What sort of chemistry did you share with your father?

A: My equation with my father was different from the relation I have with Abhishek. We kept a natural distance from each other because earlier that was seen as respect. I never disturbed him because he was always very busy in his writings. It would have affected his creativity. So we kept that little distance. But I was emotionally close to my father and he used to teach me all the right values. Today I am what I am because of his teachings and his values.

My parents are not there but their teachings and values are always with me and that is very important. Whenever I have to decide something, I ask myself what my parents would have done in a similar situation. And I follow the same thing which I would have done if I had been in the place of my children.

Q: Tell us about your new film Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap.

A: I liked the role when director Puri Jagannadh narrated the subject to me. (Director) Ram Gopal Varma had recommended Puri to me. I had seen Puri’s Pokkiri, the Telugu original of the Hindi hit Wanted. I had liked his work. Puri wanted to portray me in a different manner — he had even written the story keeping me in mind. In fact, the subject was so endearing that I actually told Puri I wanted to produce the film under my banner AB Corp.

Q: What’s your role in the film?

A: I play Viju, an ex gangster, who is very edgy and a bit arrogant but flamboyant to the core. Girls are crazy about him. Viju is brought back to India from Paris, where he is running a pub, on a special mission. I think it is a role which is in keeping with my current age. Viju is an old man but young at heart.

Q: How difficult was it to play the role?

A: It was a tough character to play because I had to act the role of a 25-year-old boy — and everybody knows my real age. I believe today’s generation is brighter, faster and smarter than the earlier ones. They are in a hurry and want everything with a shortcut — and for them, this is good. They give an entire answer in one word. I had to work on this a lot. Then it’s tough doing physical actions and other such things at this age. But my habit of going to the gym regularly helped me a lot.

Puri wanted me to do at 69 all that I used to do at 25. Though I am not as young as I was then, you will be able to see a little bit of the kind of the angry young man roles I used to play earlier, mouthing some of my popular dialogues from some successful films of mine.

Q: How was it working with Jagannadh?

A: Since Puri confessed to me that he was an ardent fan of mine, sometimes it was quite awkward for me on the sets. Puri’s brief to me was that I should look as colourful as possible. I have also contributed my bit to the character, adding to Puri’s inputs, to enhance my character.

Q: You have even sung songs in BHTB.

A: I have sung three songs in the movie and it all happened accidentally. Actually I was listening to a track composed by Vishal-Shekhar and singing along with it. I could relate it with Mere Angne Mein. I liked the song so much that I called Vishal and said that I wanted to sing it. He agreed saying it was a great idea.

Later on we ended up doing three songs. There is a song where both the vocals and the music track are sung by me. I like singing early in the morning as the throat is clear and the mind is fresh. So I recorded most of the songs early in the morning. It really feels good to play that music — I love it.

Q: What’s the film’s USP?

A: It is the kind of film that any other producer would gladly have come forward to produce had I not made the offer to Puri. The USP is that it is a clean family entertainer. Though the trend today is to use expletives and shoot explicit scenes, there is nothing like that in my film. All my life, as an actor, I have never used expletives or shot for any explicit scene because I am just not comfortable doing them.

I am not comfortable with all this because I believe my family should not feel ashamed of any of my acts or films.

Q: The title has a slangy touch to it. Are you comfortable using these kinds of words?

A: I have never used slang in my life. I am very sensitive about language and words. The reason for having such a title is that earlier we had kept the title Bbuddah but it sounded like Lord Buddha and so we decided to change it to Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap. I will never use any abusive words.

Abuses and cuss words seem to be the flavour of Bollywood this season. While actors these days do not hesitate to hurl abuses in every other line or through songs, I’ve taken a rather unusual way. I will be seen doing “thoda action, thoda Jackson” in Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap. I have also found a unique way of abusing on screen. The latest promo of the film shows me using the word ‘Beep’ instead of an expletive. “Aye bahut bada beep hai yaar tu” (Hey, you are a big beep) is what I am heard saying. In fact, I also justify this new lingo through a dialogue in the film which goes like this: “Jabhi mera mann gaali deno ko karta hai to main beep bolta hu. Us se do cheez hota hai. Ek toh mera zabaan saaf rehta hai aur doosra, saamne waali ki izzat ka beep lag jaata hai.” (Whenever I want to use an abuse, I use the word beep. This helps in two ways — it keeps my vocabulary clean and the person in front of me gets beeped.)

Q: Why do you say the film is already a hit?

A: I told Puri that I would like to make the film on a budget of just Rs 10 crore and he stuck to it. The satellite rights have already fetched us around Rs 14 crore. I have always maintained that films fail only because of their costs.

Q: Why don’t you make remakes of your old evergreen hits?

A: I know that there are plans to make remakes of films such as Chupke Chupke, Satte pe Satta and Amar Akbar Anthony. We at AB Corp have no plans to go in for remakes because, besides me, even Abhishek feels that the evergreen originals should be left alone and not tampered with at all.

Q: What did you think of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas?

A: There was a generation which simply loved Kundan Lal Saigal when he played the forlorn lover in Devdas. Then there was yet another generation like that of ours that was hooked on to Dilip Kumar as Devdas in Bimal Roy’s film. Let me confess that though in my eyes Dilip Kumar was the ultimate Devdas, you just cannot deny or ignore the fact that today’s generation feels Shah Rukh Khan is the ultimate Devdas because they have watched him essay the role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film.

Q: Are you open to acting in a television series? Anil Kapoor did that after hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati.

A: Frankly I don’t mind acting in a series if it is interesting. I am told that it is a time-consuming process and very tense, because serials are shot till late at night and then sent to Singapore to be uploaded the very next day. It is nothing short of a horror story. Recently when I met Anil Kapoor, he told me he had an incredible experience working on 24 in the US. He used to rehearse with other actors for six days and then shoot non-stop for half an hour on the seventh day. It is unbelievable the way they shoot a serial with so much planning.

Q: How have you grown in the last four decades from Saat Hindustani to Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap?

A: I do not look at it as growth. I look at it as an area that has to be worked out very religiously day after day.

One has no other alternative but to reconcile to the fact that one is no longer as young as one was. Or as young as one thinks that one actually is. You have to accept that. And the sooner you accept it, the better. Nowadays not only do I get diversity in terms of roles but also have to shoulder less responsibility as far as the success ratio of a film is concerned — in the sense everything does not rest on my shoulders any longer. Today I want roles which go well with my age. I don’t mind if it is positive or negative, as long as it has substance.

As an actor you have to be constantly working because there are several avenues which are yet to be explored. Everyday is a new day and every day there is a new challenge.