Abhishek Bachchan says he wanted to quit films, recalls father Amitabh Bachchan’s words: ‘I never brought you up to be a quitter, so keep fighting’

ALSO READ | Abhishek Bachchan believes parents shouldn’t be friends with their kids, says ‘a father will never be able to replace a mother’

The actor revealed that he was on the verge of quitting films, but his father Amitabh Bachchan’s words gave him the strength to persevere. “I remember going to my father one night and saying that I have made a mistake and no matter what I am trying, it is not working. Maybe, this is the way of the world telling me that this is not for you. He was amazing. He said, ‘I am telling you as an actor and not your father, you have a long way to go, you are nowhere near the finished product but you are improving with every film. Just keep working and you will get there’. And, as I was walking out of the room, he said that I did not bring you up to be a quiter, so keep fighting. That meant a lot,” he shared.

Abhishek Bachchan believes that failure is a part and parcel of life and everyone has to go through it. “With time, you learn a lot and experience teaches you so much. If you look at it, we all are fighting a losing battle. At the end of the day, none of us is getting out of this gig alive. You will fail, you just have to fail forward. Failure is an integral step to success. Without failure, there’s never going to be success. That’s the way I have looked at it. It’s like life, you breathe in, you have to breathe out as well. You are only answerable to your 8-year-old and 80-year-old selves.”

When asked about situations when his loved ones were supportive and pushed him to do better, he said, “It happens every day. It starts with your parents. They are protective about you, so that instinct may sometimes get them to be a bit negative, but they will always support and believe in you. As a parent, if my daughter comes up to me today and I wouldn’t be sure about something she wants to do, but if I see conviction in her belief, then that gives me conviction to say that she is going to be able to do it, because she is not going to give up.”

Abhishek Bachchan will next be seen in Be Happy, also starring Nora Fatehi and Inayat Verma. Directed by Remo D’souza, the film will stream on Amazon Prime Video from March 14.