There is one unwritten rule in the Hindi film industry: Amitabh Bachchan is never late for an appointment.
But for the press meet of his new film Deewar: Let's Bring Our Heroes Home -- the man responsible for giving punctuality a new meaning was late. Not by an hour or two, but an unsurpassed five hours!
Apologising to the media for the delay, Big B was at his charming best: "I am extremely sorry. I had to put my make up on my face. It was sticky and took very long to remove."
The actor who saw two of his films -- Dev and Lakshya -- hit the theatres in two consecutive weeks took a volley of questions thrown at him.
Senior Associate Editor Syed Firdaus Ashraf offers a recap:
On Deewar: Let's Bring Our Heroes Home:
I am playing an army officer who fights in the 1971 India-Pakistan war. I am captured by the Pakistanis and taken as a prisoner of war. I am in a Pakistani jail along with 54 Indian POWs. I am their leader. We all want to escape from this prison and some people inside the jail and out of it help us. My son [played by Akshaye Khanna] helps me in this effort too.
We have tried to bring as much reality as we could in this film [Deewar]. If you see the promos, you will see I have worn only one pair of clothesin the entire film. That is my only dress in the film. I hope people find my character real.
On Pakistan-bashing in Hindi films:
I don't think that will happen [in Deewar].
World War II happened, but there are many films made by England against Germany. Today, England and Germany are making films against each other but they have no enmity.
Hindi films have never spread enmity or hatred in any caste or religion in our country. This is one of the only institutions left in our country where we have shown secularism and brotherhood in our country intact. There are very few institutions left now highlighting these things.
If you see Border, you will find that the message of the film is that war is not good for both the countries. Gadar-Ek Prem Katha also highlights this point. It was a love story.
We had three wars with Pakistan. We are making story on that basis. We should see what is the message of the film overall. We are making films for commercial reasons. It has some message [also]. If it is a social film, we highlight family values. We highlight our festivals. In Deewar, we are highlighting the state of prisoners of war. We hope both countries
release prisoners of war after seeing this film.
On shooting tough scenes at 60-plus years of age:
There was a tunnel scene [in Deewar]. I had to bend and work towards digging the tunnel. Once inside, it takes time to come out. Instead of bending and walking, I had to crawl. It was difficult for me to come out again and again and do my shots. I decided to stay inside the tunnel rather than come out.
Now I think, I am going to tell people that I am 62 years old now. I cannot do stunts. I will tell people in advance what I can do and what I cannot. [laughs]
On working in two films titled Deewar:
[Filmmaker] Yash Chopra and [script-writer] Javed Saab also pointed out this fact. But [producer] Gaurang Doshi told me that he had already distributed lot of films. After 10 years, you can have any title. I don't think the name will have any more expectations from this film.
On Deewar's director Milan Luthria:
He is a wonderful person. He is very well prepared. He makes an artist comfortable on the sets. He tells me [even] before I put [on] my makeup what time I will go back home. He made me look aged in this film. I had to look lean, hungry, tortured. He has done a good job.
On his Deewar co-stars:
They [Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, Kay Kay] all are wonderful artistes. It was a pleasure working with them. I worked with Kay Kay for the first time. He has a tremendous presence of mind in acting. He has great talent.
He is very humble and a wonderful colleague. I wish him the very best.
On Indo-Pak ties:
I want peace between both the countries. We have the same culture, same land and same food. This border should be erased as soon as possible. East Germany and West Germany have united. In many places, enmity is ending. I hope the same thing happens here.
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