Age is Just a Number

The film,which releases on July 1,has been directed by popular South Indian filmmaker Puri Jaggannath,and is also Bachchan’s home production,with AB Corp backing it. However,the director,who made the Tamil superhit Pokkiri,has brought in those sensibilities into the film to make Bachchan’s character look rather flamboyant. “He is arrogant and has an attitude,so his outfits also have a bright and colourful touch,with yellow scarves,printed shirts and funky sunglasses,” Bachchan explained.

Bachchan,in the film,is also seen riding a Harley Davidson bike,which the actor says,made him nervous earlier. “I’ve never been much of a biker. This is the first time I rode such a heavy-duty machine. I got it right after some practice in traffic,” he recollected. “But now I know why people enjoy riding powerful machines — it gives you a sense of being in control,” he added.

The actor has yet again lent his voice to the title track of the film. However,this time,he has gone a step ahead and performed it a-capella style,producing sounds of the guitar and drums. But Bachchan brushes all the credit away by calling it machine-aided. “These days,you have such fabulous technology that it can convert a screech into a guitar strum and make a terrible singer like me sound good,” he laughed.

Though he has done solo-hero roles in the recent past,with Cheeni Kum and Nishabd,Bbuddah… sees him return as the much-loved classic hero of Indian cinema. Recounting what made him sign the movie,he said,“After I returned to films,most of the roles I was being offered were rather sublime,submissive and of a weaker man. I’d heard many people say that they didn’t want to see me this way. When I read this script,I considered it a great opportunity to return in a different avatar.”

However,the 67-year-old actor feels that on the flip side,age also has its advantages. “In the early part of my career,I was expected to be aggressive,bash up villains,woo the girl and perform the routine. But now,there is much more variety.”

(Detailed coverage follows in Screen issue dated July 1)