It is late and it is necessary for me to mention this for, many among the extended family lament the fact that I am not resting enough

Jalsa , Mumbai     Sept 9/10 , 2011       Fri/Sat 12:32 AM

It is late and it is necessary for me to mention this for, many among the extended family lament the fact that I am not resting enough. I would tend to agree with that and i do promise that there shall be occasion to do just that the day after -Visarjan on Sunday , when the deity Ganesh ji will be taken on His final journey into the waters of the sea, and bring to an end this season of Ganesh Utsav, and be inviting the Lord to come back again next year in their homes during this festive season.

The land of India so different and vibrant and filled with such divinity and love. The various and diverse religious festivals. The celebrations for them, the customs and rituals that follow along with them, the devotion of all those that believe in them. Their faith and utmost dedication in the matter of prayer and service to the Gods, so human and simple, yet pronounced by their integrity and its outcome.

It has been an important observation of mine and I believe of certain of others as well, how even the most prominent and those blessed with all that life can offer, submit themselves to the feet of the Almighty. In their own world and in their surroundings, they are masters of their profession, confident and at times if I may say so, almost arrogant in attitude. But yet their servility to the divine is nothing different from those not in possession of their virtues - if one can call them virtues.

The very big the affluent the VIP’s all have that similar look on their countenance when in the presence of the divine. It is here they realize that it is here that they shall have to subjugate themselves to a power they are not in charge of, or incapable of handling. It is the most humbling moment in the lives of these super humans and it is most comforting to see them in such demeanor.

The beauty of all this is the fact that they all fall in the same category - equal and devoted to that same being that shall give deliverance and blessing to them. They ask in this condition and seek what they have not to be given to them. In their work they do the opposite, and so the dichotomy of the moment sometimes gives me a moment to snigger perhaps, or just inwardly store all the visuals of these individuals - a contrast in attitude if ever there was one !!

These larger than life luminaries. These bosses of the modern world. These few these merry few, who live and exist through their accumen of business, who have all the answers to all that befalls them, who guide the destinies of millions of others … now suddenly sublimating themselves to a power that even they, are unable to contend with.

When there is so much that is unknown in the world, even those that seem to know, submit themselves to the force that remains unknown. I am not aware of what and where it is or what shape and size it possesses, but this I can say with certain confidence that since there is so much that shall remain unanswered in this universe, that we shall perforce have to understand that that which is unknown shall always invite respect.

I shall always respect the fact that there is much to know and believe and learn. But I shall also not disrespect those that think and have believed otherwise. There are strong arguments in favor of both, and if we are to live and exist in a realm which we are living in, in as democratic a manner as possible, then the opportunity to be given to both must be honored and believed. An atheist does not necessarily give reason to alienate him. It announces that the freedom to believe must be arbitrary and democratic. To each his or her own  but within certain parameters of society and the morals that we grew up with and accepted for our world.

My respect for those that believe … and my respect for those that do not ….

Love

Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan to make Hollywood debut with The Great Gatsby

Amitabh Bachchan to make Hollywood debut with The Great Gatsby


Can it get any bigger than this? Ok, let's put it this way - Can it get any 'GREATER' than this? What you are about to read below is unquestionably the biggest and the greatest announcement coming out of our Indian Film Industry.

In what will go down as a defining moment in Indian cinema, the day we were patiently waiting for has arrived.

The Great Gatsby marks Amitabh Bachchan's first ever main stream Hollywood movie to be directed by the Oscar nominee Buz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge). Mr. Bachchan plays Meyer Wolfsheim - a Jewish man Gatsby describes as a gambler who had fixed the World Series. Wolfsheim is a clear allusion to Arnold Rothstein, a New York crime kingpin who was notoriously blamed for the Black Sox Scandal which tainted the 1919 World Series.

The Principal photography began this week on Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' The Great Gatsby. The film is a new big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel from the uniquely imaginative mind of writer/producer/director Baz Luhrmann. The filmmaker will create his own distinctive visual interpretation of the classic story, bringing the period to life in a way that has never been seen before. Leonardo DiCaprio stars in the title role.

The Great Gatsby follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.

Academy Award nominee DiCaprio (Blood Diamond, Aviator) plays Jay Gatsby, with Tobey Maguire starring as Nick Carraway; Joel Edgerton and Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan (An Education) as Tom and Daisy Buchanan; Isla Fisher and Jason Clarke as Myrtle and George Wilson; and newcomer Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker. Indian film legend Amitabh Bachchan will play the role of Meyer Wolfsheim.

Oscar nominee Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) directs the film in 3D from a screenplay co-written with frequent collaborator Craig Pearce, based on Fitzgerald's book. Luhrmann produces, along with Catherine Martin, Catherine Knapman, Lucy Fisher and Academy Award winner Douglas Wick (Gladiator). The executive producers are Barrie M. Osborne and Bruce Berman.

Two-time Academy Award-winning production and costume designer Catherine Martin (Moulin Rouge) also designs with the director. The editors are Jason Ballantine, Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond, and the director of photography is Simon Duggan.

Luhrmann said, "Fitzgerald loved the movies and was a passionate believer in the power of cinema. The Great Gatsby has been adapted for the screen no less than four times. Fitzgerald's story defies time and geography. The vision and the goal of our remarkable cast and creatives is to do justice to the deftness of Fitzgerald's telling, and illuminate its big ideas and humanity. This is our challenge and our adventure."

The Great Gatsby is being shot in Luhrmann's native Australia. The filmmaker stated, "The opportunity to make the film in Australia with the Bazmark creative team is very important to us; the assistance from Screen Australia and the NSW Government has made that possible."

The film will be distributed in 3D and 2D by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

Bollywood Hungama wishes Mr Amitabh Bachchan the best of the best in his debut Hollywood venture The Great Gatsby.

including today in particular for Shams, who celebrates her birthday tomorrow the 9th . Happy birthday Shams

Jalsa , Mumbai     Sept  8 , 2011      Thu  11 : 30 PM

Was to work today … cancellation .. and another off day to recover from ailment … but work just springs out of the woodwork and BAM ! .. before long we are in the thick of it, not knowing when it all began and when it shall end ..

Shobhaa De, the eminent writer and columnist, sent across a gentle lady to take my views on ’sanskaar’ and its power in the lives of us as Indians. How does one really begin to describe what ’sanskaar’ means to an audience that does not understand the language. I have no word for it in the language that you now read … I know that I was fortunate to have possessed the virtues of ’sanskaar’ from my family and I hope and pray that generations after me shall, within the family, continue with them.

I am asked how does one develop them, where did they go with the present generation, have we lost them in changing times, how important are they to us in our social standing. I have nowhere to go to explain such questioning. I have not deliberately been given lessons on the subject and neither has there been a concerted effort by anyone, particularly my parents and family, to formally teach me what this aspect of living was all about. But … I observed that when elders entered the room, the young stood up in respect. I observed that the heads of family and those that were given honor and pride of place were the ones that you with regard and servility, touched their feet for their blessings. In a restaurant with my Mother for coffee, I was corrected by her when I stared at an outsider unknown, with more than deliberate intent. A fleeting glance was considered a more aesthetic manner of behavior. I noticed that the ‘ji’ was to be more respectful than a ‘tu’ .. though in some languages of the country the ‘tu’ is considered a more endearing term.

Opening doors for ladies, ushering them on before you, pulling out their chairs and seating them at tables, sitting down after they were seated .. were perhaps more to do with manners and perhaps a kind of discipline that we were initiated into, but does it come under the realm of ’sanskaar’ …? I wonder !

A well mannered attitude was considered as possessing a good ’sanskaar’. How one behaved in public, how one delivered within the morals of agreeable society, was more to do with ‘in possession of good sanskaar’.

I cannot put my finger to a moment when I was taught it - sanskaar ! It was something that simply one acquired over time. Something that was unspoken and unsaid yet said and spoken of. You either had it or you did not. If I am responding to the sms or messages on the mobile and the laptop with a certain degree of promptness, it may not be considered as an act of correctness and discipline, but certainly would go down in the mind of the receiver as an act that emanates from ‘achche sanskaar’.

If I have spoken or written about incidents that have been memorable and of relevance to me in this blog, and they have found some patronage among a few, it is not coming from ’sanskaar’. It is what I picked up from my Father or Mother as a lesson to learn from. To equate it to ’sanskaar’ would not entirely be correct. That I have felt the lesson important enough to work by it and abide with it, could well be termed as one that has a certain ’sanskaar’.

There is however a concern about the changing trends in our society. The oft repeated refrain is, that this generation has not kept up the ’sanskaar’ they should have. Maybe maybe not. Each generation has its own view point and morals and methods of what it thinks to be morally right. They may not agree with mine, but I would, if ever I were to be confronted, give reasonable license to cover the decade change that we have now come to accept. Provided those that asked for it came forward for it in the spirit of understanding and more importantly understood the lasting fact that liberations in behavior does not give them the license to compromise with their ’sanskaar’.

There may be reasonable argument against this as well. Fair enough. But that is the precise understanding that I talk of. Each parent may have a different point of view. And if they are liberal enough to accept the natural change in the decade, then they must also accept the natural exigencies that may occur with the generation that has just stepped into a world where they may not be too willing to accept what has remained with them in the past. Change is a natural equation for progress and development. Not just in the material sense, but also in the manner in which life conducts itself. Yes the youth shall bring about another aspect and we must learn to respect that, but within the boundaries of a ’sanskaar’ that was imbedded in us as the young. Those shall remain - should remain !!

You are polite and generous to the contestants that arrive on the HotSeat in KBC ! Yes I am ! I am so because to me my little technologically proficient region of the KBC set is my home. When you come and sit by me you have entered my home and I shall treat you with the politeness and generosity that I would any other that would come to Jalsa. This is not habit or good manners, well maybe it is, but ideally it would be referred to as being in possession of good ’sanskaar’.

My genetic body tells me to rest now … my mind wishes to stay back with you …’sanskaar’ does not come in here. But if I were to end today by not acknowledging your presence and wishing you well, it would go down as not ‘having good sanskaar’ …

Good night then and may all of you be safe and well looked after … including today in particular for Shams, who celebrates her birthday tomorrow the 9th . Happy birthday Shams … and may you continue to be your delightful self as ever !!! Love

Amitabh Bachchan

Life and nature have many different ways of expressing themselves Big B

Jalsa , Mumbai          Sept 7,  2011            Wed 11 : 50 PM

Before all else,  it is sad to note that Mrs Karen’s Father passed away today and we at the blog and in the Ef family extend our deepest condolences .. prayers with you and your loved ones ..

Life and nature have many different ways of expressing themselves .. there is the acceptance of great enthusiasm at what we would in normal circumstances call ‘job well done’. And simultaneously there is the regret and shock of what man does to man .. not satisfied with this, nature or Mother nature wishes to express itself too and shakes its belly with thunderous appearance in and around the same center that has aroused consternation and temper, in the morning.

A regularity of this kind diminishes the faith in normal existence. There is no fear, just acceptance and a complacent look at all that goes about. Life and its frailties, uncertainties, keep reminding us from time to time that we are not and never shall be the masters of our own destiny, for just when we begin to assume that that is what our strength is, the earth shakes itself in disapproval and at the other end fills someone of us with a mind full of vengeance and destruction and death, without any gain or purpose. What guides them to this state. What incites them to take life away from another. How do they ever exist when they know that innocents that they may never have even seen or heard, shall be wiped out in one fell blow … and to what end ? I have no answers !!

I am indeed very disturbed at certain procedures that puts others suspected of wrong in confinement. I am disturbed and angry at the temerity of the operations that take away the lives of our own. And I am helpless in front of the wrath and anger of the elements, reminding us of its absolute presence when all else fails or lies dormant.

There is but one solution which I believe belies all else … it is the solution of work ! The heavens may break and slide away or down, the rivers may flood and destroy, the oceans may part not necessarily as per the Bible … but work within all this has a habit of destroying all else ! Some work for the need, others for the need of fulfilling a dream, and some for just work .. its manifestations being admitted as some that needs to be done just to be occupied.

I think one reaches a stage in life when all that he or she wishes is to be at work, irrespective of its value or meaning. There is no wonderment, no apprehension of the outcome, just a desire of being in an environment because there is an environment. It is a stage where nothing seems to amaze you, scare you or even distract you. You may never acknowledge the fact that certain aspects of our lives get built around by us and not necessarily to compliment us. It may well be the other way round. But by and large one reaches a stage when it would not matter. And that is the point that signals a point of no return. Many of us shall reach that destination and drift away, unaware of the fact that they are being drifted away in this sea of temptation not by your own choice but by the circumstances of life. Its acceptance is the most vital. I accept it not because I need for it to be vital. I accept it because it gives me the involvement of work. For, without it, there would never be the need for any thing else.

Small steps taken in any particular direction, need not necessarily be small. But … they must be firm and in firm belief ! Belief it is that shall become our guardians and our resolve. Without it all around us would look so pale and pallid ..

Love to all and in small but believed moments ….

Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan signs first Hollywood film

Amitabh Bachchan signs first Hollywood film  


New Delhi: After over four decades of contribution to Hindi cinema, Amitabh Bachchan is finally stepping out! At 68, he is ready to make his Hollywood debut with Baz Luhrmann`s ‘The Great Gatsby’, which has ‘Titanic’ star Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead.

Amitabh, who is lovingly called Big B in the Indian film industry, is the latest to join the cast of the romantic drama, along with Scottish-Australian actress Isla Fisher. He will play the role of Meyer Wolfsheim, said an official statement from Warner Bros Pictures.

The $125 million project is a 3D adaptation of the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same name. The principal photography of the movie began this week in Sydney.

"Fitzgerald loved the movies and was a passionate believer in the power of cinema. `The Great Gatsby` has been adapted for the screen no less than four times. Fitzgerald`s story defies time and geography. The vision and the goal of our remarkable cast and creatives is to do justice to the deftness of Fitzgerald`s telling, and illuminate its big ideas and humanity. This is our challenge and our adventure," said Luhrmann, who made "Moulin Rouge", and used Hindi song "Chhamma chhamma" in it.

Other cast members for ‘The Great Gatsby’ include Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton and Carey Mulligan. The film also features newcomer Elizabeth Debicki. Luhrmann is happy to shoot in his native Australia.

"The opportunity to make the film in Australia with the Bazmark creative team is very important to us; the assistance from Screen Australia and the NSW Government has made that possible," he added.

The film will be distributed in 3D and 2D by Warner Bros Pictures and in certain territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.