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

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

AGELESS AMITABH

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

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.”