Amitabh Bachchan as Yudhishtir Sikarwar in Yudh

At age 71 and after 45 years in the spotlight, Amitabh Bachchan is all set to make his fiction television debut with Yudh in July. In the show –– which will air on Sony –– he plays Yudhishtir Sikarwar, a business tycoon who is diagnosed with a degenerative neurological disorder. Directed by Ribhu Dasgupta, the show has Anurag Kashyap as creative director and Madras Cafe-director Shoojit Sircar as creative consultant. Accompanying Big B in this saga of a character who struggles with health-related issues and takes business rivalry and complicated family equations in his stride is Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

An email interview with the legend.

You’ve always wanted to explore this format. What about it interests you?

The excitement really was to be involved in something that I had not attempted before — television finite series –– in a manner which would define for us and for the medium to present viewers a product that’s different.

What has been your biggest learning while shooting this new format?

It really has been the brief given to me by Anurag (Kashyap) at the start of the shoot –– read the script, read the dialogues, and then forget it all and say what you feel the moment the camera goes on. It gave me an opportunity –– and I am sure to many others working on it –– to think out the part, allow it to sink in and then to give it one’s own interpretation. I found it most refreshing and innovative. It was unlike what we had been doing all these years in cinema where we followed the dialogue to the comma and full stop religiously.

Also, Anurag said that we should never ask or want to know where the camera was placed. He said just do your bit, and leave it to the camera to catch you. Perform according to the requirement of the scene, not according to whether the camera is catching what you are doing or not. I felt it was quite innovative because it brought in an air of naturalness, and gave us the liberty to be as normal as possible, and not make it look deliberate as we sometimes do for cinema.

And you shot the show make-up free?

That again was a deliberate creative decision taken by the team and we stuck to it as much as possible. Keeping in mind that it was a directorial decision to make visuals look as normal and natural as possible, it was essential that the actors looked natural. That helped in the way our scenes were lit up… there were no special efforts to conceal defects, if any, on our faces. Sometimes all these factors work well in the overall look of the product.

After years of putting on war paint, did you feel liberated to appear make-up free?

Yes... but I have rarely resorted to any excesses as far as make-up is concerned. Unless, of course, it involved representing a particular kind of character, like a Paa or, at times, playing an older role. It is quite advantageous for an actor to know that he can move his face freely and not be conscious of the fact that in doing so, it would destroy the make-up!

You will be playing a character not for two or three hours but for months, even years. Is that a daunting thought?

No. That is the format and we need to go by the concept. The concern about time is really unnecessary. We have worked in cinema for years… on one product.

Yudh has a stellar cast, including Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sarika, Kay Kay Menon and Tigmanshu Dhulia, many of whom you haven’t worked with before. What’s the experience like?

It is always exciting to be in the company of talent that one has never worked with before. Personally, it has been a most rewarding experience.

After 45 years of being in the limelight, what pushes you to experiment with a new format like Yudh?

The desire to continue working if the face and the body are responding well, and is acceptable to those who wish to work with me.

One hears that Mrs (Jaya) Bachchan is also interested in doing a soap....

Yes, she is working on a subject and preparations are on.

In previous interviews to t2, you have often mentioned watching reality shows once in a while on TV. Are there any fiction shows — Indian or otherwise — that you have watched?

Yes, I have watched many and have been impressed by them. Among the foreign shows, I enjoy Game of Thrones, Homeland and House of Cards among others.

You will also return with Kaun Banega Crorepati this year. That’s quite a workload.

Yes, I will be doing the next season of KBC by August. So, it’s the TV serial, KBC and a few films simultaneously. A good amount of work… yes!

You constantly reinvent yourself. Is there an aspect of creativity that you still want to explore?

I have never been able to understand this matter of reinvention. I am in a profession that gives me an opportunity to work in different forms. As a member of this fraternity, I merely wish to try the different opportunities it offers. I do not know if there are any other forms that have yet not been tapped. When I encounter them in the future, I would see if those could accommodate me.