I fell in love with Amitabh Bachchan: Akshara Haasan

 I fell in love with Amitabh Bachchan: Akshara Haasan

Akshara Haasan has inherited the acting legacy of her parents, Kamal Haasan and Sarika, who have been part of Indian cinema for over four decades. She made her screen debut this Friday with Shamitabh. The 23-year-old tells us why she wasn’t sure about becoming an actor and also talks about her father’s stardom.

You weren’t sure about becoming an actor. How did you zero in on Shamitabh?

To be honest, I had taken time to discover my calling and did different things like being an assistant director, a photographer and a dancer. I thought this was the right time to understand what acting was all about. So I went up to mom and told her ‘it is time I act’. Shamitabh happened with Balki (R Balki; filmmaker) sir spotting me outside an editing studio. But he didn’t know who I was, and much later, he asked me if I was interested in working in his film.

Shamitabh Movie Review

What was it like to do a scene with Amitabh Bachchan?

In my first scene with him I had to look stern. However, my voice was quivering. But then, he made me comfortable. I fell in love with him after watching Kaun Banega Crorepati. I thought “he is one of the most successful actors and I cannot mess up.” That was the kind of pressure I put on myself. His aura can be intimidating.
 
Your father, too, is a name to reckon with.

 I have seen his stardom, but for me, he is my dad and not the way the audience sees him. As a kid, I could not figure out why everyone was running after my father. But when I see him on screen, I see him as an actor and not as my father. In my childhood, however, if my parents were beaten up on screen, I would start crying. The final scene of Sadma (1983), where dad is trying to make Sridevi recognise him, tugged at my heart strings.

How is your rapport with Shruti?

 
Shruti is a friend, a sister and a guide. There is a lot of understanding between us. She’s very protective about me.




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Amitabh Bachchan voice Power : Shamitabh Movie Review

 Shamitabh Movie Review : Amitabh Bachchan’s voice powers the movie

A reedy, scrawny, voice-less wannabe actor rides piggyback on a hypnotic, heavy baritone to super success in Bollywood : the premise of ‘Shamitabh’ is fabulous on many levels. Because of the cross-connections it makes with real life and reel life. Because of what we already know about the actors, stored in our memory banks. Because of its sheer degree of meta-ness.

Danish (Dhanush) and Amitabh (Amitabh Bachchan) are like ‘whisky’ and ‘paani’ : the former is an unprepossessing runaway, like a million others, who fetches up in Mumbai in order to become a star; the latter is a wasted alcoholic with a voice that we have known and loved, on and off screen. The coming together of the two– the ‘mixture’– becomes ‘Shamitabh’, super-successful Bollywood hero, aided and abetted by a bright young thing Akshara, a small cog in the big movie business.

Much of what constitutes stardom, the way it is constructed in the world’s largest film industry, is part of the film. The connection between how a person looks and how he sounds, and how that contributes to the making of a star, fashions the two halves of `Shamitabh’. And the predictable face-off between the two provides some of the film’s most alive moments.

The trouble is that there are not enough of those moments in which the two riff off each other, the others around them being just admiring ciphers. Large passages are devoted to Amitabh Bachchan and his soliloquies. Why, when we already know what a magician he is with his voice? They make the film a one-sided drone.

Also, so much of suspension of disbelief (how possible is it for an actor to be voiceless and not be rumbled within a moment?) needed to have been balanced by the sort of flourish, which makes us say okay, I buy into this, but only because you are showing it to me with quirk and smartness. ‘Shamitabh’ swings between being intelligent and banal, the latter more so when it begins worshipping at the altar of the nation’s most beloved voice.

Debutant Akshara Haasan, an intriguing mix of mom Sarika and dad Kamal Haasan, has promise. Dhanush shows what a real actor can do with just body language : he is fluid, twists and turns, and says what he wants to, without using any spoken words.

Paradoxically, it is Amitabh Bachchan, whose voice powers the movie, who is not able to break free from the pedestal he is put upon : the lines between Amitabh the superstar playing Amitabh the drunk wastrel are so blurred that the film becomes more paean than anything else, burying the character and the story.

‘Shamitabh’ had the potential to use irony and knowingness and a self-awareness, and the presence of the most durable star in Bollywood whose velvet-and-iron rumble has become part of the national soundtrack, to give us an unforgettable story of ego and identity, rejection and acceptance, success and failure. There are a few moments which sparkle, and we laugh in acknowledgement. But the rest of it is overpowered by unabashed reverence.

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Shamitabh Movie: Amitabh Bachchan plays a frustrated man

Shamitabh: Amitabh Bachchan plays a frustrated man

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan said he is playing the character of a 'frustrated man' in his upcoming film Shamitabh. "As you watched the trailer, he (the character) is a frustrated man," said Bachchan who was accompanied by director R Balki and co-actors Dhanush and Akshara Hasan.

The Shamitabh team was on a promotional event of the film, scheduled to be released on February 6.

When asked about his experience of working under Balki, the Big B said 'an actor only follows instructions.' "No work is easier in life. People may think that one

feels good in front of camera. I have been working in the film industry for many years. Sometimes there remains a fear that what is cameraman thinking of, what is the demand of the script and whether I will fulfil or not," he said.

 Bachchan said he had done many films with Balki and the latter is like his family member. "But when camera starts rolling, we forget mother, father, brother or friends, we only remain actor and feel the character. Whatever has been instructed, we do that," he said.

Asked about his son Abhishek Bachchan once again turning a producer, the senior Bachchan said, "People have their own thinking, Abhishek had earlier produced films (Paa) and he is also doing acting apart from producing films."

Some parts of Shamitabh were shot in Seven Hills hospital in Mumbai where Bachchan had undergone an abdominal surgery earlier. "Balki insisted to shoot in the same hospital to add element of reality," he added.

On the content of the film, Bachchan parried the question by quoting lines from the trailer, "It is not picture, it is mixture."

Balki said Shamitabh is a story of two egos who clash with one another. "It is the story of two egos of how two people clash and nobody can be successful indeed. Most people think they can do it alone, most people think they have done it all. It is not like that. Behind every successful person, there is a team," said Balki, who had earlier directed movies like Paa and Cheeni Kum with Bachchan.

Dhanush, whose YouTube song 'Kolaveri Di' had become a cult and who had earlier worked in Bollywood movie Raanjhanaa, said the story of Shamitabh is unique and very fresh. "I am deeply honoured to work with Amitji," he added.

The younger daughter of versatile actor Kamal Haasan and Sarika, Akshara, who is debuting with the film, said it was a magical experience to work with stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Dhanush, and Balki.

Bachchan also praised Akshara saying, "This is Akshara's first film. I have a special family relation with her. She is daughter of Sarika and Kamal Haasan and obviously, she got the talent in her genes.

news by hindustantimes