Rang Barse Bheege chunar wali Amitabh Rekha jee Holi song Silsila Movie

Flattery can stir me up as much as criticism if I take it to heart ! BigB

Flattery can stir me up as much as criticism if I take it to heart ! BigB

Jalsa , Mumbai     Mar 18 , 2011  Fri  11 : 45 PM

I sat down to write this around 10:30 Pm and am finally getting down to it around midnight ! Reason ? Once you open the net you just keep spending idle time in visiting a number of sites without any purpose or meaning. And then you suddenly realize that the real value of it is here amongst all the FmXt and you revert back … but by then its past midnight !!

Just an observation … nothing more !!

An entire day has gone by in the look test for the film ‘Bbuddah’ and finally by late evening the finals were approved and locked. Soon and with the permission of the directorial crew we shall be giving you a sneak preview of it ! Its tough going through all that we do in the making of film, and at an age when the 7 and the 0, ie 70 loom large before you shortly, you wonder whether one is doing the right thing or not ! Anyway ! Its too late for that now ! Once in then in .. get into it and give it your best shot !!

“Next time I will … ”

“From tomorrow on I will ….”

- what makes me think I am wiser today than I will be tomorrow !!!

Brilliant thought that I picked up in a book. So apt and appropriate in our today’s life. Truly, what does compel me to think that I shall be wiser today than tomorrow. Its the process of delayed commitment. A lazy response in desiring to delay, to postpone, to not having to deal with it today … to somehow push it to a later date, because quite frankly, either I really do not have the answer to this today or its an ailment within us of not wanting to confront. And many expressions and books and famous sayings from eminent personalities have confirmed this in their own manner. There are many among us that simply hate the idea of confrontation. Even when they are on a course that threatens to be right. Conversely there are others that absolutely thrive on this situation. They are built differently. They need to face the oppressor, the one that is with fault or the one with whom there is and shall be disagreement ! And until the issue at hand is not resolved in their favor, it will continue to be dealt with until the other simply vanishes through defeat, or admits fault merely to get over the situation. But even after the ‘battle’ has been lost and won, the victor generally continues with the confrontation. It displays to me a desire to be heard and obeyed, to be acknowledged of their power of authority, than wanting to actually resolve the issue. For such people, I would strongly recommend silence and withdrawal. I can argue with someone of sanity. But how does one tackle a fool.

Falling into the trap shall only jeopardize and endanger our own selves, harm ourselves than bring any kind of result or conclusion. The other may be foolishness personified, but why should I test myself on his account. Would it not also reduce me to their level ?

So …. ek chup sau sukh  !!

‘Flattery can stir me up as much as criticism - if I take it to heart ! ‘

I would rather be in assessment of my own worth than fall prey to compliments. If I shall possess the ability to gauge my own work, surely I shall be in a superior state. This is not to demolish the keenness with which the compliment giver gives and the compliment taker takes. That process has its own merit and standing and respect. And it must never be asked to be detached or left rudderless. After all the entire process of creation is built on that very sound platform of, desire for recognition. Now after it has come to one in abundance, to dispel it would only make you a very unattractive and disliked individual. But, after the final result, surely one must in his own individual capacity, be able to decipher where things have gone horribly wrong and where right ! And if I did not possess the ability to be able to understand this, then there really is no immediate need to even indulge in this conversation.

‘The artist must satisfy his own soul. All you can lose is your reputation.”

And with that to think and mull over …I shall take leave ..

Amitabh Bachchan

Bachchan family at the forefront of tax filling बच्चन परिवार टैक्स भरने में सबसे आगे

Bachchan family at the forefront of tax filling 
Mumbai. Between tax evasion and black money reports the good news has come from Bollywood.In the case of income tax filling Hamesh Bollywood is the next.This year, the Bachchan family, Bollywood actors behind the other, leaving an annual tax paid is Rs 37.55 crore.

According to sources, Bachchan family entertainment Uhog the family has become the most to do. The family had a great 2010-11. Last year, several films released to every member of the family. So Amitabh, Abhishek and ऎshwarya joint income was much higher. The three go together in March 2011 of Rs 37.55 crore, full income tax. Bachchan family's honesty is a lesson for those tax evasion.

Noted that 18 million before Akshay Kumar, Hrithik, Shah Rukh 15.10 million and tax of Rs 14 crore was full. 


Hindi
बच्चन परिवार टैक्स भरने में सबसे आगे
 
मुंबई। टैक्स चोरी और काले धन की खबरों के बीच बॉलीवुड से एक अच्छी खबर आई है। आयकर भरने के मामले में बॉलीवुड हमेश ही आगे रहा है। इस साल बच्चन परिवार ने बॉलीवुड के अन्य कलाकारों को पीछे छोड़ते हुए 37.55 करोड़ रूपए सालाना टैक्स अदा किया है।

सूत्रों के अनुसार बच्चन परिवार मनोरंजन उघोग में सबसे ज्यादा कर देने वाला परिवार बन गया है। 2010-11 इस परिवार के शानदार रहा। बीते साल परिवार के हर सदस्य की कई फिल्में रिलीज हुई। इसलिए अमिताभ, अभिषेक और ऎश्वर्या की संयुक्त आय काफी ज्यादा हुई थी। इसके चलते मार्च 2011 में तीनों ने मिलकर 37.55 करोड़ रूपए का आयकर भरा। बच्चन खानदान की यह ईमानदारी टैक्स चोरी करने वालों के लिए एक सबक है।

उल्लेखनीय है कि इससे पहले अक्षय कुमार ने 18 करोड़, रितिक 15.10 करोड़ और शाहरूख ने 14 करोड़ रूपए का आयकर भरा था।

Thank you so much for your generous wishes to Shweta

Jalsa , Mumbai       Mar  17,  2011     Thu  11 : 13 PM

First off … thank you so much for your generous wishes to Shweta. I have insisted that she reads the blog and all the responses to get a gist of how much she is loved. Else I threatened her that I shall copy all of them and email it to her … which would be an exercise in itself … but then …

And tonight I wait … awake again for the midnight to wish Shweta’s husband Niky a happy birthday for the 18th !! They are both the same age … Niky a day younger ! So wishes to him and glory and happiness for their life together.

And Moses from Israel sends me a photograph of Abhishek and me during one of our earlier visits to the erstwhile Soviet Union, now Russia. And we have sat together and reminisced those days spent and all the thoughts of the visit and in particular little incidents that occurred during our stay. One that stands out most on seeing this picture is that soon after, Abhishek was besieged by an entire bus load of Russian girls, who insisted he gave them his autograph !! Ha ! And he did ! And felt very important while it all lasted. If I am not mistaken it was his first ever autograph. Neither he nor I did ever imagine that he would join the movies and be doing this act on a daily basis !

I am greatly taken up also in todays comments by Satyam, who has as always, raised very pertinent observations, on the death of ‘characters’ in the movies by the ‘actor’ that plays them. Its a good observation and one that deserves greater attention. I am not prepared yet academically to give it due response, but it is something that draws my attention and I would like to dwell on it in the days to come. How the character in film leaves lasting impression of the actor involved and when the actor shifts his ‘loyalties’ to another character in other film and set up, how the identity of the previous lives on after. And if he or she does not adhere to the characteristics of the one that has a strong identification, what effect it has on the viewer ! Very interesting !

To me it justifies a kind of betrayal to the fan or the audience, if we have not complied with certain traits that have left a strong indelible impression on the mind of the fan or viewer. I felt ‘Nishabd’ in more recent times challenged me as an actor, and I believe it provoked me enough to delve into areas where I had not been and that it gave me an opportunity to go beyond what I had been doing earlier. But … one sentence from a die hard fan got me thinking on why the film failed. There was another recent reaction to it from a dear lady friend of mine in journalism, and I shall talk about it someday, but that one obtuse reaction was equally alarming.

The wife of the DOP on the film, a very generous and committed fan of my films, on coming to know from the publicity, that it was a story of a 60 year old that fell in love with someone 18, simply refused to go to see the film ! Her argument. How can Amit ji do something like this ? How can he fall in love with a 18 year old !! It was not the name of the character that was falling in love. It was Amitabh Bachchan for her. And that is where all debate and discussion can begin.

“Ram Gopal Verma’s film Nishabd (2007), delves into the web of dark obsession where
Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan), an older man falls for his daughter’s eighteen-year-old friend Jia
(Jiah Khan). The film was a box office flop. It had to be. No wife would take her husband to
see this kind of a story. No point giving the old geezer ideas. No young people want to see
the potential of their father’s misbehaviour. No man could admit to his family he wanted to
see it. Sad, because it is an important film. It is a deep, serious work of art wherein the riveting last scene,
Vijay explains to his wife’s brother, Shridhar (Nassar) what stops him from killing himself,
even though he has lost everything. Every day, he drives to a cliff and stands at the edge and
contemplates jumping to his death. In a heart-breaking performance, Vijay (Amitabh) says:
Aisa nahi hai ké mai marné sé darrta hun. Parr socha ké uské yaadon ké saath
kuch din aur jee lu [it is not as if I am afraid of dying. But then I think, just to be
with her memories, I could live for a few more days].
When the camera pans to his brother-in-law’s face, there is no judgement or reproach
in his eyes. Instead, there is a look of recognition between two men of the dark state
of being. Two raw nerves touching delicately, in an almost shared anguish but tooawkward for one man to comfort the other.”

This above piece from Madhu Trehan a senior respected journalist, studied the craft from Columbia Univ., NYC, sister to Aroon Purie, owner and Editor in Chief of INDIA TODAY, India’s Time magazine and running AAJ TAK and Headlines Today Tv channels. Madhu is married to Naresh Trehan, one of the top most cardiac surgeons of the country, also trained and studied in NYC.

Satyam’s claim that his identification with a Vijay or an Anthony or a Heera and then their subsequent ‘death’ in most other films of recent release, has caused a dilemma, or an absence, that the fan or the audience may not necessarily want to appreciate. He could be right. And it could in a sense explain why certain films of certain actors that have adhered to what the audience expects from them, have always succeeded and why when they have done something ‘different’ - another misnomer in our Industry jargon - they have failed, despite their legendary box office legacy !

Which then leads us to, whether you weigh an actors capability by large box office bonanzas, or those delicate ‘artistic’ films where he has given perhaps sensitive performances, but, because of poor sales at the counter, has not fallen within the radar and scope of his assessment as a performer, simply because many people never got to see it. We shall continue to talk about and laud the Sholays and Amar Akbar Anthonys and Muqaddar Ka Sikandars of the world, but seldom speak about those delightful films of Hrishikesh Mukherji - Bemissal and Jurmana, which to me were very exciting and challenging as an actor !

So …. the debate continues … and more time shall be spent on it later perhaps ..

For the moment it is past 12 and the wishes to Niky have been conveyed and I must now listen to the wishes of my body which insist I lay it to rest ..

Good Night ! Shabba Khair, Shubha Ratri …

Amitabh Bachchan

Source:  Big B Blog bigadda

I needed to wait till it struck 12 midnight and the day changed

Jalsa, Mumbai      Mar  16/17 , 2011     Wed/ Thu  12 : 42 AM

I needed to wait till it struck 12 midnight and the day changed from the 16 to the 17 th , my daughter’s birthday !!

Yes … Shweta born in 1974 on March 17, celebrating her birthday with her family in Delhi, now a married woman with two children of her own ! Difficult to imagine that this podgy little bundle, with the quizzical expression on her face at most times is now into her 37th year …

Just seems like yesterday .. ah ! cliched …. that I had rushed from Bangalore, yes in those times it was still Bangalore, from the shooting of Sholay, to be at Breach Candy Hospital just in time for the birth. And I walk past her picture in Jaya’s arms on the landing on my way up to my work place from where I communicate to my EF, and smile at her dainty frock and playful smile as she looks at the camera and then turns at her Mother’s cheeks with her fingers, tiny, round and bewildered. Hah !

So many of us wish that they be frozen at that time and age ! For them to remain in that cute cuddly stage and never grow up !

Its been attention children from the very morning today. Sadly not in the same circumstances, as we talk now. The morning papers carried a heart wrenching photograph of a small cute Japanese child in the Mother’s arms, getting a test done for radiation, after the disaster that occurred there, a few days ago. And the expression of wonder on the child’s face was just impossible to bear for long. The misery that has befallen and the manner in which we see visuals of the locals showing such great resilience is incredible. What can one say at moments like this ? Except express our prayers and sympathy and do whatever best we can to aid those in need, by contributing generously towards their cause.

Time constraints prevent me from writing at greater length. And really, the moment we talk or express about the horrors in Japan, one just does not wish to say any further. It almost seems impertinent to be addressing something else. Gives a feeling that we are unconcerned about the issue. We are certainly not. But somehow our activities to any other just seems out of place. And so for today dearest ones, I shall refrain from any further discourse !

My love as ever …

Amitabh Bachchan