Sunday, October 30, 2011

Jackpot for office worker on "Kaun Banega Crorepati"



Jackpot for office worker on "Kaun Banega Crorepati"


An office worker too poor to own a television set has won an unprecedented $1 million on TV game show "Kaun Banega Crorepati".
Sushil Kumar's win this week drew comparisons with the plot of 2008 Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" and, like its fictional protagonist Jamal, the 27-year-old also watched the TV show as an escape from penury.
This is the first time a contestant has won a million dollars on the popular TV show hosted by Amitabh Bachchan. The episode will be broadcast next week and Kumar takes home 3.5 crore rupees (about $720,000) after tax.
Kumar, who watched the show at a neighbour's house because his family was too poor to afford a television set, said he had not made any grand plans for the money, a fortune in a country with a per capita income of $1,265.
"I'm going to repair my house, fulfil a few basic needs and then move to Delhi to study for the civil service exams," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Kumar works as a computer operator in a government office in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar and earns 6,000 rupees (around $120) per month.
"Our house has almost broken down and we have a lot of loans that have to be repaid," he said.
"If it hadn't been for this money, I would have gotten old before I sorted out my life."
"I've been getting a lot of suggestions about what to do with the money, but right now I can only think about my dream of getting through the civil services exam," he said.
"Slumdog Millionaire", shot in the teeming slums of Mumbai, tells the story of a young orphan who wins the TV game show against all odds.
(Editing by Tony Tharakan; and Louise Ireland)

After distributors baulked at the idea, Amitabh Bachchan




No longer a 2-day affair

By: Subhash K Jha  




After distributors baulked at the idea, Amitabh Bachchan, who had a guest appearance in RGV's Department, will now spend two weeks shooting for his role of gangster-turned-politico

Ram Gopal Varma's friendship with the Big B is the industry's best-kept secret. Varma is perhaps the only man in the fraternity, who can get away with murder as far as Bachchan goes. Which is why, we are not surprised to learn that a cameo in Varma's new film Department, which required only two days of shooting, has now turned into a full fledged role that will require Bachchan to dedicate at least two weeks. 


"Initially, Ramu conceived Bachchan's role as that of a gangster-turned-politician, based on Arun Gawli, with a phantom presence through the film. Audiences would have seen him in silhouette and would have just heard his voice. But then that was seen as a commercially weak proposition," says a source.

Apparently, the film's distributors baulked at the idea of the Big B as a shadowy presence. That's when Varma invented the zany, rustic, anachronistic gangster which is a bit of a cultural anomaly. "The role demands that Bachchan wear a dhoti and bright socks. With glares and a desi bearing, this will clearly be the most outlandish look he has ever sported," added the source.

Apparently, the actor helped Varma select the 'look', although it didn't quite match the superstar's taste. Varma said the look is inspired from research that proves that most gangsters aspire to better their social standing.

"Amitji is playing a gangster-turned-politician. All gangsters end up rolling in money, but aren't really comfortable with what to do with it. I loved the idea of putting Bachchan's character of an uneducated and unsophisticated man in an environment in which he isn't comfortable.The entire film is based on the conflict between Bachchan, Rana Daggubati and Sanjay Dutt. We have a fortnight of shooting left," said Varma.
News mid-day

Saturday, October 29, 2011

If possible refrain explosion. But if it travels beyond tolerance and limit

If possible refrain explosion. But if it travels beyond tolerance and limit



Jalsa , Mumbai    Oct  29/30,  2011        Sat/Sun  12 : 28 AM
 If possible refrain explosion. But if it travels beyond tolerance and limit, explode and explode full in intensity ! Do not smoke, smoking is harmful, but if you do then smoke the best. Drink if you must, but if you can afford it drink the finest.
I do not smoke, do not drink, do not eat meat, do not take Indian sweets, no cake, no pastries, no toffees, no paan bahar or paan, no coffee no tea no cola, no ice cream. Nothing religious or health related. Just …
Not testing will power either, nor wanting to prove any point. I just do it and none shall behold the reason for such. Perhaps as I grow older and the memory cells begin to spin out, I may need to put it down somewhere for posterity. I may need to put down a lot for posterity, though I am not certain if I shall – many of the experiences which to me seem indifferent and uninteresting, are enjoyed by others. I could consider doing things for others, but there may be reservations in that too. But why should it be disclosed. Why the reasons behind all that is unknown. Why ??
I suppose many coerce me to put it all down officially. A book, an autobiography. Hah !! That would be such an audacity on my part. I love the reading of others tales, their lives and how they lived it. To even suggest that others would have similar interest in mine would quite obviously be a great travesty of my modesty. Or would you rather state it as ‘immodesty’. They both sound equally, as though they know what I am meant to mean. I make comedy of my expressions ! There is hidden mirth in there. A desire to be smart and in possession of a seemingly intelligent action ! Ho Ho Ho !! Laughter overcomes my intellect. Really ? Intellect did I say ? Whoever said that or thought it so, must be one deprived of any sensibility ! But sensibilities seldom attack writers of the dis eminence of ‘yours truly’. Ah !! well ! we shall await final judgement on that perhaps later after the responses fly in. Do justice to it, please .. I implore !!

I am but smitten with the intellect of those that profess they have none. I am beholden to those that come across me and give me more than I can ever educate myself with. I am but a name that became of importance on the results of another’s making. My own is of limitations. I portray that, which others believe should be portrayed, in a manner which they discover and invent. I never manufacture, never invent. I follow invention. My craft has been tutored to follow, and follow to the best of ability. That is it !
I write and speak yes, but of what I believe and feel. It is not historic or of any value. I speak officially to a mass, but not with intent of speaking, but to perform. To perform a duty, or at most an obligation. But if that shall be taken as literature, or aesthetic writing, then they that do so are the foolish of highest orders. They make themselves unaware of fact from fiction. They suppose. I oppose. I desist. They insist !!
But I shall be victorious if there was to be battle. Not because of any personal strength, but because of my insistence to be away from any participation. When you participate, you commit, you open flanks ! That is where all the truth shall prevail. For that is not written for you, enacted for you, deliberated for you. That is that traveller in the lost deserts of the wild and vicious Sahara – without food, shelter, water or shade and no oasis …
Accolades come and go. That is their nature. But accusations persist once they begin. Accusations have a life larger and better groomed than accolades. Accusations are flowery in word and at times in deed, if correct. They bring the varied colors of the ill will and unsubstantiated falsehood. They have the ability to be meatier and perhaps of better taste. They live longer, add tributaries to themselves without asking. They seemingly flow with the rush of the stream that claims to be of some distinct purity. They shine and shower themselves with the cleanliness of time.
Truth, if ever spoken or deposited, would be insipid and uneventful. Tasteless and morose, without any reflective glory of showmanship. It would be it and that is it ! Dull quiet and almost soundless ! The cacophony of the untruth is so wild and full of decibels that these gentle little tinkles of the bell will hardly ever be heard. Which is why truth sits silent. Almost in despair, but most valid and secure in appearance.
I will not justify. I will not cringe on the untruth. But I shall set fire to it within and I shall hope that its flames overwhelm me, pour out above innocent countenance and be seen as a burning flame in its blue flamboyant glow, even in the hours of the dark …
Those that dare to come within it shall duly burn and be vanquished … those that do not, shall ever enjoy the glow from distance. It shall be as pretty as ever. Burning yes, but not inviting in its beauty, but almost threat like spread invitation to come closer and learn that the glowing beauty has the requisite qualities to commit you to ashes … forever !!

Amitabh Bachchan

Greetings for Bhai Dooj the festival and ritual for the bonds that exist between a brother and sister


Jalsa , Mumbai    Oct  28,  2011       Fri  11 : 21 PM            
Greetings for Bhai Dooj .. the festival and ritual for the bonds that exist between a brother and sister ! The sister asking for protection and the brother willingly promising her his immense love in doing so. Presents are exchanged, greetings and prayers are conducted and sweets are fed to each other. Raksha Bandhan in reverse almost. On rakhi the sister tying that sacred thread on the brothers wrist, the brother gifting not just his love and protection but also giving the sister a token gift of that enduring affection. On bhai dooj,similar sentiment but now the sister gives a gift of her affection and love to the brother !
So strong and valuable our sentiments for the conduct of our family system. The togetherness, reliance and sense of being one and remaining so. A culture advanced in its thought and execution, when other cultures encourage separation and drift apart !
The lights at all the premises remain lit in all their glory even though Goddess Laxmi’s day has gone by. But stray sounds of the fire crackers still abound, the lights remain in all their glory brightening up the houses and corridors of residences … just in case …

Mazal and her niece from Israel and the ever helpful Nandita drop by in the evening and some time is spent talking of so many topics from India to Israel to films to children to everything under the sun. A call to Valorie in the US is undertaken too. The connection of this Ef world grows with such grace. Did we ever imagine that it would become so ? Not by me ! But … I have noticed that many of the Ef have taken such great initiative in pursuing a path that has built a world of wonderful feelings that in today’s times of grief and turmoil, seems heaven sent. Its been a world of its own almost, where each member has taken that extra step in restoring faith and goodness among all irrespective of distance, country and circumstance. Help to each other has become such a spontaneous realm. Strangers in the city have been converted to family guests purely because they belong to our extensions ! This is an amazing story and one that fills my heart with great joy and fulfillment … Thank you all for your most voluntary hand, extended in friendship.

The time for rest is over, the time for work begins again and the time taken in getting through all the letters and gifts and wishes for the birthday and the festival have all been taken care of. Soon individual acknowledgements shall be at your doorstep. Such a relief to have gone through all of it personally and not allowed it to be treated by staff assistance.
There is a great sense of completion when one indulges in this practice of the personal. A typed response is perhaps the routine but now and then the hand written note does add that something special to the communication. And in this day and age when we are getting more proficient at typing our own perfect font of speech, it is a delight to find that the written word is a world and class apart. Pens and writing material still occupy a major space on my desk … and in numbers too. There is a great romanticism about the process of filling a personal favorite pen with ink. The mechanics of the operation, the filling up of the compartment, the tissue wiped nib and body to rid it of extraneous left over and finally the joy of the flow from it when put to paper !
The invention of the pen and writing instrument, the ink, the paper that it shall finally adorn, all have been perhaps one of the finest inventions since the wheel ! We may eventually move into a space where we would be getting rid of all that has been mentioned before, but for me as I am sure for many the pen and its ink shall remain in their iconic importance.
The battery on the lap top measures a close red. The clock above speeds past the hour of rest. And the early call tomorrow beckons …
as does the final greeting before the end ..
my love to all

Amitabh Bachchan 

APOLOGIES !! APOLOGIES !! AND HUGE AMOUNT OF REGRETS AND SORRY’S !!

Prateeksha , Mumbai      Oct  27,  2011         Thu  12 : 30 PM
APOLOGIES !! APOLOGIES  !! AND HUGE AMOUNT OF REGRETS AND SORRY’S !!
My act last night on the blog was just sooooo embarassing ! My desire and my penchant to not connect every single day of my life with my dear and loved Ef, provokes and pushes me each day to write .. but last night Diwali finished very late .. indeed it was still on when I sneaked up to write to you and simple passed out due to lack of sleep ! What reads on the blog is just some incoherent and completely irreverent and irrelevant nonsense. This what I write now is to compensate and replace the error .. do forgive me !!
I will not change the mistake though ! I shall not erase the Blog of last night ! May it remain as a reminder of my folly. I am human after all and prone to many such.

Diwali is always an open house. People come without any formal invitation, it is a custom that we explore for all our festivals. Festivities are for the coming together of like minded friends and well wishers, and last night we came to know how gracious our friends and guests are. Many came, many for the first time and I would like to believe that they spent time with us in the spirit of camaraderie and celebration for a festival that encourages brotherhood, friendship, prosperity and well being for all.
Jaya, as always the initiator of such events, decorated the place in her most artistic and inimitable style. The house looked wonderful. As it did at the time of the ‘godh bharai’ for Aishwarya ! Traditional decorations are a weakness for me. I simply love the ‘mogra’ flowers, the ‘bela’ and the lamps and lights in the live diyas, unlike the artificial ones often used these days. At a function recently the traditional lamp lighting ceremony before the start did not have the oil and wick diyas. They were replicas of them wired to an electric current !! Looked odd, but there you are ! However .. later, the management told us that any live flames are banned now in auditoriums, especially in the one where we were, as a fire hazard – the venue having been gutted as a result of a fire not too long ago. Understandable and correct too !!

So another Diwali goes by. Another New year as per the Hindu calendar begins. The prayers and the religious pious remembrance towards the book of accounts, the matters that deal with money, the safe the registers that deal with invoices and all matters concerning finance are all brought out in front of the Goddess Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and Her blessings sought for prosperity ! Much like during the day of Dussehra when evil is destroyed by the killing of Ravana by Ram, all the weaponry, the guns and swords that are personal acquisitions are brought out in prayer and blessed by the deities. These are all old and time tested and most traditional rituals through the ages and centuries of our existence, and we happily maintain them.
” One must never be too far away from tradition ”

And as the days pass by we come closer to the ending of another season of KBC. A few more episodes, another eight I believe and then its over ! There is a sense of leaving ‘home’ almost as one approaches the end. It has been one of the most enlightening and emotional seasons of my association with this format of television. The contestants their lives and their stories have been such an eye opener to not just me but to all that have witnessed their outpourings as they battle with their intelligence and wits to overcome the odds that they have faced for generations. And to see them exult and celebrate their unbelievable earnings within hours, gives to us a great sense of fulfillment for them. They have come from backgrounds that would never have given them opportunity to earn in a hundred years what they achieve, and to learn and know that this moment of theirs shall change their very existence perhaps forever, through generations, is truly such a satisfying experience. It has been their accumen and skill that has been responsible for their change in their fate as it were. The opportunity given was ours, but the skill was theirs. Given opportunity even the most deprived can prove to the world that they are in no way lesser or weak. They possess all that is required to do better in life and they prove it time and again at the Hot Seat of KBC !! My salutations and respects to them all …
It is another day of rest today. To recover, to dwell in all that the past year brought with it and to prepare for the next. Life has this uncanny wheel of time that never stops and never allows us to get off it. And so we shall ride it with pride and effort and perseverance and all its odds, for, that is what we have been brought in to this world for. We are all special and all different and all without doubt, someone with qualities that others do not possess. It is our duty therefore to be content with it and to nurture it with all the effort within us to further its cause. The cause of bringing to all around us, happiness and peace and well being ..
A most prosperous New Year to all and may you be ever blessed by the forces that guide us ..
My love … and once again in ending, my apologies for last nights’ blog ..

Amitabh Bachchan

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

HAPPY DIWALI !!! to all my Ef and to their loved ones. May the year bring good fortune, prosperity and love. May the Goddess Laxmi the Goddess of wealth


Jalsa , Mumbai                                 Oct  25/26 ,  2011                                 Tue/Wed  12 : 27 AM
What a sensational day in the studios of KBC ! A young man from the interiors of Bihar, earning a meagre salary of just Rs 6,500 per month, coming from the most humblest of back grounds, reaches the Hot Seat and cracks the ultimate prize – 5 cr rupees !! An incredible feat ! This is what the common man is all about. This is what KBC is all about – given an opportunity the common man has the strength the ability and the accumen to prove to the world that he is the best and second to none.
The pulsating excitement on the set and among the crew was unimaginable. It was as if they had won the hugest prize ever in the history of Indian Television. The tension as each question was meticulously answered and the pulsating and throbbing hearts as he crossed the 1 cr mark and then waited and waited and waited till almost eternity to decide on that final answer of 5 cr rupees. The entire place just exploded. The family of Sushil Kumar, the contestant, not prone to any kind of public jubilation ran on to the floor of the set in uncontrollable joy and screams and tears of happiness, whilst the live audience were whooping it up on their feet with the loudest scream I have ever heard in this 11 year association with KBC !!
Ahh ! Still cannot get over that moment. Rare and once in a lifetime !!
And then soon after in the next episode another humdinger !! But of that some other time !

My apologies for the post last night, its brief demeanor, inconsequential content and the most insincere of all my blog transcripts. But when you work round the clock with barely any sleep at all, it has its effects, and it shows ..
But …

HAPPY DIWALI !!! to all my Ef and to their loved ones. May the year bring good fortune, prosperity and love. May the Goddess Laxmi the Goddess of wealth, bring plentiful to your home and hearth. And keep the noise pollution low and sensible .. !!
It has always been a most fascinating aspect when you witness goodness among us. I do believe that the good ness that remained within Sushil Kumar, his mind in thinking, his desire to educate himself and also the children of the community, makes for a complete man. May the Almighty keep him well and happy ‘for generations to come’, if I may be permitted to use a line of contact or as they say a byline, with that of my Father’s ….
The desk, is clustered with gifts and paper work pending for several days and a bit of the cluster shall be attended to in a few days time. I need to take a somewhat large break to be away from all that keeps me together. I will. I know I will and it shall be sooner than one can imagine.
I look forward to the day tomorrow when it shall be off for the reasons of Diwali, when the guests that shall arrive will spend time in traditional clothing and perform the formal rituals of the day – a prayer, lighting of the diya and then a small involved but mostly silent execution, with the fire crackers.
We shall do that … and more hopefully !
My love to you as ever  :

Amitabh Bachchan

I am tired and sleepy and passing out ! But my commitment to you my EF Big B


Jalsa , Mumbai                                      Oct 24/25 ,  2011                                Mon/Tue  1 : 19 AM
I am tired and sleepy and passing out ! But my commitment to you my EF is so much stronger than any sleep inducing act. Yes it does take a lot to keep going, but I feel the moment one stops, every thing else stops too. So the purpose of this post is to demonstrate to you all that the words that I speak are sufficient enough to keep company with my yawns and that all else shall be taken care of in the days and nights to come.

It has been a long grueling day – Tv always has been that. But when you have contestants that came on board when in distress, when you have a live audience that watches and observes every move of yours, when there are a million things that one needs to know about the subject on hand, and then some more, it does become an exercise not just in concluding the show but indeed in making that a very successful one.
I must apologize now for, any further attempt to pursue what seems unstoppable shall end in grave consequences and disaster.

Do excuse me therefore if I make a hurried exit, there really is a huge pressure on my being, coercing me to stay with you and share … but I have sounded today and a few others that join me later, explained that I must spend some time with the near ones. They are the first to get affected. So listen to them, allow them to function in a near capable moment. This and more shall be the dividend that awaits you …
May the ‘shagun’ of the ‘choti divali’ be with you always …
Love and more ..

Amitabh Bachchan 

We live in exciting times .. where we have the liberty to make our own news


Jalsa , Mumbai      Oct  23 , 2011    Sun  10 : 27 PM
We live in exciting times .. where we have the liberty to make our own news ! What is expressed on the blog or the twitter is conveniently taken up as a ‘source’ for the media and given it a color as though it was theirs. Two matters come up then for questioning.

One .. if what we write is what will be converted into news, then we have the advantage of letting out what we would like to read in print the next morning ..
Two .. if this is feasible, then what is to stop a false news or opinion that could be deliberately given out knowing that the medium will pick it up …
Since most news is all made and written in closeted rooms of the media office without any attention to the practical field, it becomes a most easy task to run out a computer reference of all that may have been written about any particular subject and if the photographers have through their extreme ‘paparazzi’ behavior, sold pictures to particular media house, the writer merely makes his or her column by putting down what he can make out of a particular situation by the visual of the picture that he or she holds before them. A correct and truthful description of any situation is thus something that we get deprived of, as also the consequences of its nature. The journalist shall move on to another story settled in their heart of a job well done, when it fact it is not by a long shot a job at all.
Worse follows. What gets documented by one journalist in any form anywhere, becomes the yardstick for all the others. So if there is an incorrect reporting of an issue and it has been put down on paper, it is enshrined in perpetuity. The world may change but that written opinion, that expression remains as the ultimate reference point for eternity. And the fact be damned, as also the subject matter.
There are several attitudes one can adopt in such situations.
Keep close liaison with the media so as no manufactured stories go out. Relationships be maintained. That bi weekly calling them over a cup of tea is a recommended option, where if you could give them some news which no one else has been given, it would act as a blessing for them.
The other of course is silence on your part an allow the results to speak for themselves. This often takes an awful amount of time and the dangers are that by the time you clarify, no one is willing to believe it.
The other option is the posting of news which is incorrect and then wait for the concerned person to clarify the position, which then gives reason for the media person to interact with their client so to say, without having to make that much touted phrase of waiting years to speak to them.
In todays world of rapid transmission and decimation of news, being the first is a quality much admired by all media. Whether it is correct or not is never perhaps given importance. What is important is that the issue must first be brought out by one particular paper. Errors could and do always get ‘corrected’ days later or not at all. It does not matter. Or may be it does. If corrected it would speak not too well about the credibility of their profession and so nothing is done.
They shall argue that no clarification was given. But giving clarifications and waiting with bated breath on the mobile so an immediate response can be given whenever their Majesties ask, is not our job. We have other work to do. But no. For the media the rule is that when asked in whatever form drop everything and attend to them !!!???
So let us imagine that we do not respond. Well forget about a positive review of your film or enterprise. Not connecting with them in any circumstance means continued bad write ups opinions and negativity in all that they put down. Some are so obsessed with their client that they shall never be able to be without them. They will write about you everyday, but everyday with suggested abuse or unflattering remark. Their unwarranted frustration shall never leave them, no matter what. The indignity that we can do without them is so strong they never let up.

Ahh ! Well … forget about these mundane inconsequent expressions and lets talk about the quality of the day that went by and to what the benefits of a break in work meant.
It meant the ‘godh bharai’ ceremony for Aishwarya by her parents now. A lovely warm and affectionate ceremony full of relationships and relatives and all sharing concern and affection for the child to come. Quite wonderful how we still maintain our old customs and rituals. Love them.
Sports followed then. The Rugby World Cup 2011 at Auckland New Zealand, when the All Blacks won a close one … 8-7 over the French. The All Blacks being my favorites. Excitement !
The Cricket followed and India beat England most convincingly in the ODI. The score stands at 4-0. One more to go !
ManU got beat in a historic game of Football by ManCity and by 6-1 ! In their own backyard ! Embarrassing for ManU. Agastya must be in mourning. He being a ManU fan.
Our team Chelsea was losing 0-1 to QPR and playing with only 9 players, two haven being red carded. Not too bad for Chelsea !! Hope still rides !!
And now good night and with love ..
For tomorrow its back to KBC ..
Amitabh Bachchan

There has been one significant change since my visit to Australia


Jalsa, Mumbai             Oct  22/23,  2011             Sat/Sun 1 : 55 am
There has been one significant change since my visit to Australia – a sudden passion and love for the game of Rugby !! So does this mean further trouble at home with domestication ; I think not. Both these forms of Football, the American Football and now Rugby have been fascinating game players for me. I do not entirely understand the main rules, nor do I understand some of the configurations of the game – the scrum and the penalties, and why they must keep throwing the ball back to their players etc. The same is the case with American Football. I cannot understand how and when the points go. But … there is something that I do understand – you need to possess tons of iron like physiques to play this game. I mean look at these guys ? They are finest specimens of brute human male strength and just to see them play and crash and jostle about, to get to that dreaded line beyond their territory, is a marvel of human physical endeavor.

So not just main events like the World Cup being played in NewZealand right now, with finals between France and the local All Blacks team, one which has been garnering unbelievable audience demands and support, but, the frenzy that prevails before the game does go on, is an event by itself … !!
O dear so much to say, but my jet lag is killing me now, and before long I shall be swinging between irrelevant banter and stupidity. So to put and end to this … an end to this my earliest and shortest BLOG ..
Phew !! made it … I just typed BLOB and would have been criticized no end for this error … but I do know that you understand my conditions and so … with love

Amitabh Bachchan

Thursday, October 20, 2011

BBUDDAH... IS A FUN SALUTE TO THE SUPERSTAR WE LOVE TO LOVE


AGELESS AMITABH
In the climax, Amitabh Bachchan, a killer on hire, turns the gun on his own gang of baddies, duping them into believing that it is the cops who are plucking them out one by one. He plants a bullet in the back of one, tosses a dynamite from one window to the adjacent one, fools a goon into handing him a loaded pistol only to have his brains blown out the next moment....
Off-screen, that is what Bachchan has been doing over the past few years. Duping the audience into believing that he has now moved into the bracket where he can only play the wronged father, the helpless husband or the doting grandfather. Every syllable that the superstar has been uttering — “at this age, I am lucky to get films” — is overturned by every scene and every moment in Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap.
From his entry shot where he blazes on to the screen leaning on the rails of an escalator, the lazy swagger unmissable, to the penultimate scene in which he swivels twice over and puts a bullet in the villain’s forehead using that famous left-handed shot, Bachchan seems to be on a Ginseng-overdrive, showing his middle finger to his younger co-stars. Bbuddah hoga terra baap? You bet. For, the Big B of Bollywood wouldn’t have it any other way.
Felling his opponent with a single twitch of the finger, rocking a Harley Davidson or simply turning on the charm on a woman quarter his age, the 68-year-old is in fine form, having as much a blast on-screen as his audience — not all of them fanboys, mind you — does sitting in front of it. But call him an old man and he will go after you — either biting off your head or blowing it off depending on his mood, his indignation comically comparable to Obelix being called “fat”!
Bbuddah… takes on from the larger-than-life south Indian school of cinema popularised by Ghajini, Wanted and Dabangg. The kind of films where script and screenplay, logic and characterisation hardly matter; what matters is one man. The plot is next to nothing, the characters are one too many and the screenplay disjointed, but you don’t really care as long as a 6’2” frame keeps your eyeballs engaged.
Unpretentious and cool, Bachchan’s Viju is a one-man show. A Casanova one moment, an emotional husband the next. A trigger-happy gangster back from retirement in one scene, a man on a mission to cleanse the city the next. His wardrobe is as eclectic and colourful as his personality — floral shirts, bomber jackets, reflective glares and fluorescent scarves.
Almost every scene that he is in is a medley of his greatest songs or scenes. He nudges aside a cop with the iconic Deewar line: “Hum jahaan khade hote hain, linewahaan se shuru hoti hai.” He shakes a leg to Go Meera go, which remixes every Bachchan hit you have grown up with — from Saara zamaana to Pag ghungroo, fromKhaike paan Banaraswala to Rang barse. The stylish flick of the revolver and the bending of the bullet is all Rajinikanth and in one scene, Bachchan does a Shah Rukh Khan with: “Kahaani mein kahaani ab bhi baaki hai mere dost!” And to think he says at one point in the film: “Yeh aajkal ke ladke mere gaano pe naachte hain, meri nakal utaarte hain!” The man — with Amol Rathod’s lens resting easily on every wrinkle and every muscle — clearly hasn’t had so much fun in a very long time. He is almost a superhero here, the kind that deserves a sequel. But with a better script.
The dialogues are cocky, drawing on Bachchan’s ability to mouth even the most ridiculous lines effectively. “Maroonga toh goli se maroonga, BP ya sugar se nahin,” is a promo favourite. Our pick? When asked if he would prefer tea or coffee, Viju quips: “Chaicoffee ke saath soda achha nahin lagta.”
With the Big B around, the others are reduced to cameos, but most manage to shine. Raveena Tandon as a vastly exaggerated groupie is fun, Sonu Sood as a tough cop is credible and Prakash Raj reprises his comic villain avatar from Wanted to bring on the guffaws. There are some poignant Baghban moments between AB and Hema Malini, especially the scene in which she walks away in a huff and then chooses to look back with the Naseeb title track playing in the background.
Nostalgia never really goes out of fashion, does it? And neither does Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan.
Tu cheez badi hai mast mast to Sheher ki ladki,Yeh raat to Ore ore. Raveena Tandon has
set the screen on fire in many a hit Bolly item number. The
sizzle is back with Chandigarh di star (above) in BBuddah Hoga Terra Baap, a fun yet sexy number in which Raveena looks like a million bucks shaking her booty to the already-popular number sung by Sunidhi Chauhan.
However, for those walking into a Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap show this weekend hoping to catch the mast mast girl in Chandigarh di star, there is disappointment in store. The song doesn’t feature in the film!
“Chandigarh di star was always meant to be a promo song. A lot of people have been tweeting and asking me why it isn’t there in the film, but the makers feel that it should only be a promo song,” Raveena told t2.
The mother of two had a blast dancing to the song, which has lyrics like “Main Chandigarh di star/ munde slowin’ down the car/ sector 25 mein heel meri tutt gayi ni”.
As Ravs put it: “I love music and dancing and these guys just rolled on the camera and let me party.”

Amitabh Bachchan receives QUT honorary doctorate


QUT’s awards honorary doctorate to Mr Amitabh Bachchan



QUT’s awards honorary doctorate to Mr Amitabh Bachchan
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Queensland University of Technology (QUT) awarded the title of Doctor of the University to India’s biggest film star, Amitabh Bachchan.

QUT’s highest honorary award was conferred on Mr Bachchan at Old Government House at the Gardens Point campus, Brisbane for his outstanding contribution to creative industries over several decades.

Mr Bachchan came to QUT fresh from the set of Baz Luhrman’s latest production, The Great Gatsby, which is being shot in Sydney. The prolific Bollywood actor will be playing shady businessman Meyer Wolfsheim alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic tale of the jazz age.

QUT Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Coaldrake, said Mr Bachchan was the most significant Indian film industry name to come to Australia so the potential for a mutually beneficial relationship between the Australian and Indian creative industries was enormous.

“Mr Bachchan is only the second person from India – after IT leader, Narayana Murthy – to receive such an honour from QUT,” Professor Coaldrake said.


“He embodies the theme of creative industries – a combination of performing arts and business models, which QUT has so successfully promoted.





“This will be a significant link between our Creative Industries Faculty – the first such faculty in Australia and a national leader in research, teaching and professional practice in this sector – and the Indian entertainment industry.”
Mr Bachchan said he was honoured to be recognised by QUT.

“I am truly overwhelmed and immensely pleased to be the recipient of such a distinction,” Mr Bachchan said.

“The recognition of my contribution to Indian cinema and its effort to reach out to an international community fills me with intense pride and humility – pride for being able to be a link between Australian and Indian professionals of the film and creative industries and humility for a chance to be the medium in doing so.

“May this help strengthen the existing bonds between our two countries.”

By Dipal Agarwarkar

There is so much to gather and to learn when in the company of great minds


Brisbane , Australia            Oct 20, 2011      Thu  10 : 35 PM AusTime

There is so much to gather and to learn when in the company of great minds. There is so much to share and inform when in the company of those that are keen to know more than what they know. There is pride and dignity in the representation of where you come from. And there is great humility in being bestowed recognition and adulation from lands that are far far away from your own.
The visit to Brisbane and indeed Australia has been nothing short of a most dazzling expression of love understanding and care from all. The exuberance of connectivity shown by those that live away yet remain in close proximity, has been most admirable. To be loved is an honor, but to be loved unconditionally is beyond all imagination. The respect and the dignity that one earns during our lives is but a reflection of the quality of life one has led, inspired and guided by the advantage of parental upbringing –  the valor strength and beauty of my Sikh heritage from my Mother, the gentle and poetic aesthetics of my lower middle class environed Father of UP.
Upbringing reflects what we imbibed where we grew up. The formative years of the human soon after birth, are the years considered to design and formulate our beings for the future. We remain in that realm forever. Our pulverization by society in what the world in general offers us, comes after and may have effect. But in my most humble opinion, no matter how impressive future environs and influences become, our own core strength of values, relies mostly and entirely on those early formative years. The years so assiduously spent under the tutelage and discipline of those that brought us into this world !
I am what I was made to be. Through the years I may have added to it through greater influences and learning. But even that, never without the wise and thorough vision and consequent guiding of my parents. What did they instill in me ? What was it, that meant the most to them ? Did they ever ask me to take the wrong path ? A path peppered with negativity and insolence. Of violence and hatred. Of disrespect to social and moral codes. I say with some firmed resolve – never ! This then is the truth, and this then shall be the truth with which my own progeny and theirs to come shall abide and live by.
You may get the liberty to beat me, to rub my face in the spoils of the earth, in the dust and rust of the ground we tread, but the purity of my upbringing shall never succumb to such momentary irrelevant aberrations, that others could be tempted to impose or subject me to. My unending desire and my determination to uphold my resolute dignity shall not be compromised with. And never will.
I also therefore feel, that when I am correct, others shall be correct with me too. There cannot be isolated adulation and respectability. This is not a game of dice where you wonder what the numbers deciding the fate of the game you play shall be. This is indeed, not a game at all and therefore the fear of the spin or spill of the 6-faced black on white on black, shall never be a consideration. That consideration will be reserved for those that play the game, always. Opposing teams shall appear with great fanfare and demonstrate their athletic skills, win or lose and depart. But the pitch and the stadium that they battled on shall be unmoved and stable and stationary, ready to welcome the other players and their skills.
Come sit over me ! Toy with the sentiments of my silent presence. Destruct me with the roughness of your multiple presence, but if you think you shall take me with you when you leave, you have a thing coming !

And so the honor by the QUT ( Queensland University of Technology ), by their eminent faculty in the presence of diplomatic excellencies and distinguished luminaries, is not so much, were it to be put to questioning, a matter of my own pride, as the pride shown by those that bestow upon me. To challenge me would be akin to challenging their sincerity and worth. That, you simply cannot do. Not because they are beyond approach, but because they are beyond question. You could succeed in indicting me and who knows also succeed in legalizing me with harsh judgement, but you shall never never be able to drive me away from the truth of my mind and my upbringing !! It shall take a lot out of you to even attempt such fallacy. And even then it would not have a minuscule presence within me. What is there and what is true is what shall prevail my mind. Those that attempt to override it shall not succeed in overriding fact. Fact is my armor and my strength and my resolve. My dignity shall have the cover of a very obstinate resolve and fact. Try getting past that first !!
Her Excellency the High Commissioner for India Mrs Singh flew up to Brisbane from Canberra, her seat of governance and representation of our great country, to be by us during both the functions that occurred today – the Doctorate and the reception given by the Premier Anna Bligh, who too incidentally broke her holiday time to come by and provide me with salutations during the formal reception she specially held for me in Brisbane’s historic and most modern museum facility, dressed with great finesse in a … sari !
These are not ordinary people, nor are they ordinarily associated with such a show of affection and pomp for a non official luminary. Challenging me would be akin to challenging them. Which I believe would be a travesty of the foolish and the dumb !!

I am deeply honored to be a part of this celebration through their insight and co operation and I thank them profusely for it. In a sense they have elevated me to a position of respect and love. May this association fructify and prosper is all that I can possibly assume and I am capable of expressing. Words need pampering too to come out and express themselves – they aren’t at the moment, but shall soon ..
More follows tomorrow and in the days to come .. you shall be informed !!
Till then assume the very best ..
Amitabh Bachchan

A hards days night and I’ve working like an obedient professional


Sydney , Australia               Oct  19/20 ,  2011          Wed/Thu  00:40 AM AusTime
A hards days night and I’ve working like an obedient professional. I was to travel to Brisbane tonight, but the work remained incomplete so I abandoned the idea and worked through till now, to travel tomorrow morning for the Doctorate and a reception and the opening of a Bursary in my Father’s name.

When great attention is given it embarrasses me, humbles me and leaves me without any words that I could possibly gather up to express. But they keep coming these situations and they keep throwing me int a dilemma. What does one do in situations such as these ? I must confess the best is not to allow them to have a place of prominence. But then you end up embarrassing the giver. So what does one do ?
I shall tell you what … you sit back even if its a late night and write about it to extended family, for they are the ones that shall understand you the best. So there ..
The day has been harsh and exacting, but the results shall I am certain be of great value. The sheer exposure to the ultimate in film technology has been a huge revelation. The modern and the latest equipment, the management and the most efficient production processes that the West exposes itself to has been incredible. And may I just add as an additional that the send off has been most generous warm and emotional. It was my last day of the shoot at ‘Great Gatsby’ and Baz Luhrmann has been a huge revelation. One always admired his work and had admired him as a person during our brief encounter before filming started. But these few days spent with him and the entire way in which he works, has been a massive learning exercise. Not just him but the entire crew on the film, the co artists everyone has overwhelmed me with their dedication warmth and desire to excel in even the most smallest portions requiring attention. This is what we need to learn in life. The desire to get into the smallest detail even though it is not seen or felt, exhibits the seriousness with which they feel towards a film of such magnitude.
I may have been a very small part of this film, but a very large part of the film shall remain with me. I have observed and witnessed new technologies, new production methods, management and the delegation of work with the utmost ease and above all the sincerity of the execution of whatever responsibility has been taken on by each person. We have envied the West and its methodology and its immense presence in the trade of film and film making. I know now why. Their concentration and desire to bring in the best there is in terms of clarity of vision and the execution to perfection, puts them in the category which makes them a different breed altogether. There is much to learn and imbibe, to share and experiment with. They have through a digital process now recorded several movements of mine through very intense and complicated looking machines at ‘Animal Tronic’ centers. It is most daunting that they do. But I guess they now have the ability to make me act through the digital without actually using me physically ! A dangerous omen for all actors. But it is possible and it has been done. Lets see whether they use it or not and how it translates into film ??

In the meantime … good night. I have just 3 hours to get some rest and board for Brisbane !
Amitabh Bachchan

just finishing the day after a really early start …like 4:30 am


Sydney , Australia    Oct 18, 2011         Tue 11 : 10 PM
….and .. just finishing the day after a really early start …like 4:30 am !! But it was interesting ! The problem with such situations is that just at the moment you start getting familiar with the working, you have to leave !!
The one tragedy of life I guess. So I shall hopefully be over with this wonderful crew and production here in Sydney by tomorrow afternoon and head towards Brisbane to receive my Doctorate and then home ward bound. It has been a rewarding experience. The filming, the procedures, the discipline and the systematic manner in which productions are managed. There is a very committed attitude and desire to get the right moment and the right shot, irrespective of the time and repeats it takes and that is most educative. Equipments being used are of the highest quality and the latest and the respect for the talent is unbeatable. there is a sense of great proficiency and efficiency in the way work gets conducted here and that is remarkable. Each contributor, irrespective of the size of their work is and does have his or her moment of glory and acceptance. When a unit works as a well oiled machinery, your own work undergoes a certain finesse and commitment. This is most essential in a craft that deals with creativity. Creativity requires an atmosphere an ambience, ideal only to the one that creates. Yes a conditioned and controlled environ could work equally well for an artist as would one with immense disorganization as well. It is a factor that must be dependent on personal choice. One could sit inside the most elegant and affluent palaces and come out with a masterpiece as would one that did not possess such benefits. Both must be respected and admired. Some of the biggest classics have undergone such tests.
To complain or offer lame explanation of a situation which forced us to limit or make compromise with creativity is not the best attitude to have. I would be better off in suffering an adverse situation, but still putting in my best. The final product that reaches the paid patronage of the viewer does not carry a tag describing circumstances. That is not the business of the receptor, nor is it meant to be. And so in situations where conditions differ or are inconsistent with our own needs, I would tend to work that much extra to really defy in a sense what encumbrances have been put upon me. I may not succeed, but at least I shall not have or indeed not want the benefit of excuse !
An excuse is weak. It is the language of non achievers. I shall be willing to understand an excuse, but shall have problems overcoming them. And …. moreover … frequent excuses come from those whose caliber needs to be re looked at !!
I am presently not making any excuses for this short response … I am merely admitting fact that I need to hit the bed ..
To bed to bed and then to bed … !!
My love as ever ..
Amitabh Bachchan