Last year, Amitabh Bachchan won hearts across the country as the cranky Bhaskor Banerjee, a hypochondriac Bengali senior battling constipation. On Friday, the 73-year-old thespian is back on screen as John Biswas, a middle-class “Anglo-Bengali” searching for his granddaughter in Ribhu Dasgupta’s TE3N. The thriller, produced by Sujoy Kahaani Ghosh, pairs Bachchan with Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vidya Balan. In an email interview, Bachchan dwells on his love for Calcutta, shaving his beard, and the multiple musical instruments he wants to learn to play.
After Piku, the shoot for TE3N took you back to Calcutta. What is it about the city that makes it so special, on celluloid?
The people. They are passionate and warm and welcoming and filled with great emotion and knowledge. Having spent almost eight years working in Calcutta as an executive, it is a city that has remained close to me. On celluloid — well celluloid is over and extinct now, it’s all digital — Calcutta has some remarkable history and culture around and about it, most of it still unexploited and that makes the region rich for movie-making. Also, the authorities have always given us great support, cooperation and help in providing us the right atmosphere to work in.
Is there any moment from any Calcutta shoot that stands out?
Each moment that has been spent in Calcutta during the shooting of my films has been filled with great stories and wonderful memories. They have all been happy, emotional and enjoyable.
Is there any particular memory from the shoot of TE3N that has stayed with you?
It would be the visit to the forests around Santiniketan and indeed Santiniketan itself. The trip was sublime. Then we shot in some portions of Calcutta that I had never seen — in particular, north Calcutta and the old structures and buildings and their preservation.
Do you have any must-dos when you visit Calcutta... food you want to try or people you have to meet?
There are people I meet every time I go back. My old bosses and friends who I connected with in the ’60s when I worked there. My eating habits are now limited and very mundane, but I did [back then] cherish the phuchka outside Victoria Memorial, the kati kebab of Nizam’s, the Chinese food at Waldorf, the prawn cocktail at Skyroom and, of course, the delicious and varied sweetmeats at every corner of the city.
In TE3N, what was Ribhu’s brief to play John Biswas?
To remain as simple and unaffected as possible. And to keep away from too much Bengali because I had already done that in Piku that released recently.
The way Ribhu imagined this character required you to shave your beard. Was it an easy decision for you to shave, after a very long time?
No, not really, but then one has to follow the diktat of the director and the script.
After all these years, is there anything you wouldn’t do for a role?
I am uncomfortable with kissing and sex scenes. I avoid that. Also, I don’t like the use of expletives and abusive language.
This film pairs you with Nawazuddin Siddiqui for the first time. What is your impression of him as a co-star?
Nawaz is an exceptional talent and it has been a joy to work with him. It has been a learning for me.
This is your second consecutive thriller (after Wazir). Are there genres you enjoy doing more than others?
Not really. I do whatever comes to me. At this age and time I cannot be a chooser. I am fortunate to be getting any work at all.
Last week you participated in a special event in Mumbai that took the audience behind the scenes in the making of this film. You mentioned the lack of such documentation in the past. Hypothetically, what films or which personalities would you have liked to watch/hear/read more about?
All the greats of cinema. From Bengal, that has had such a rich contribution — Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak and the many artistes, Chhabi Biswas, Uttam Kumar and so many others. From the Hindi film industry, the greats like Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, K. Asif, Mehboob, artistes like Dilip Kumar and others. From the south — Sivaji Ganesan, MGR, NTR, Akkineni Nageswara Rao and endless talents.
You are re-teaming with directors like Shoojit Sircar, Ram Gopal Varma, Bejoy Nambiar, Gaurang Doshi.... Is it easier to work with directors you have worked with before?
There is a level of comfort, of understanding each other. But they, too, were new and first-time directors at some point of time, so you adjust.
Will we see you back on television anytime soon?
Perhaps next year...
Aishwarya with Sarbjit, Abhishek with Housefull 3 and you with TE3N have had releases pretty much back-to-back. It must have been a crazy time in the Bachchan household?
Not really. We are all in the business and we understand what it means, so there is no issue there.
A few years ago in an interview, you had told me that a new skill you wanted to learn was playing the piano. How is that going?
Not just the piano, I am desperate to learn to play the sitar and the sarod and classical singing. But I am just not getting the time or the people to push me into a learning routine. I guess it will happen sometime.
Karishma Upadhyay
