AMITABH BACHCHAN
Fresh Lease Of Life

Amitabh Bachchan is preparing himself for a fresh onslaught on the box-office. His third innings has been terrific, thanks to the fresh shot of adrenaline that KBC has given him. The game show has put him back on the pedestal that he could not achieve in his second essay when he returned to celluloid with box-office bloomers like Mrityudaata, Major Saab, Sooryavamsham among others. Till one day KBC took place, and gave Amitabh Bachchan a fresh lease of life.

The man who came back alive from the colonnade of death years ago in 1982 after he was knocked down on the sets of Coolie after being punched into the solar plexus is enjoying his life a lot. With Ek Rishta - The Bond of Love, slated to hit the marquee, Bachchan is brimming with a fresh bout of confidence. Crorepati Junior too is on air and Bachchan moves on.

We meet the superstar at Filmistan studios where he is shooting for an ad with Rakesh Mehra. Good friend Romesh Sharma is also perched in the same room in his room as Bachchan goes through the interview.

As we ask him about his role, he smiles. "It is the role of a patriarch of the family. A journalist friend of mine had suggested to me that I should do the role, so I accepted it."

KBC had given him a fresh lease of life. "Yes, it did. It has got a lot of people wanting to watch me all over again. The success of KBC helped me revive my company. It pushed my name up. It got finances into ABCL or AB Corp as it is called now. It helped me in my role in Mohabbatein. The new generation could also identify with me faster," says Bachchan.

Veritably, the success of the game show also prompted the channel STAR into getting another show called Crorepati Junior on air. Crorepati Junior had a great response in its first showing. "The kids are very smart. One of them will definitely crack the big prize one day. One of the kids has en won up to 6,40,000 says Bachchan. "But some of the kids are very impetuous. They do not want to avail of lifelines and they are impatient," laughs he.

But he has been patient enough till he has been called back to films with welcome arms. "It is nice to know that people still want you. It is their love, which makes me move on. I have now started enjoying KBC and this I would like to do a hit of both acting an anchoring," says Bachchan who seems to have anchored himself on television now.

What about films? "I have some good roles. I am doing a film called All The Best, where I am playing a bank manger. It is about this very honest man who works in a bank and is very dedicated to his work. He has been responsible for the bank doing well too. His only problem is that he has a bad temper. One day when he sees an employee of the bank, cheating a customer, he gets very upset. He goes and beats him up and thus he is sacked from the bank. The man is upset and vows revenge. So he takes the help of a few people to rob the bank, through which he can get even with them."

So you are playing your age? "Yes. In Ek Rishta - The Bond Of Love it is that of an elderly industrialist. Raakhee is playing my wife, Akshay Kumar is playing my son, Karisma Kapoor is playing my bahu, Juhi Chawla is playing my daughter and so forth. The film is about a huge family. It is a very simple story and has been treated well. Director Suneel Darshan managed to shoot the film within a record time of four to six months. I am amazed by the speed. I cannot even believe that the film has been completed," says Bachchan.

Bachchan is also all praises for his co-star Akshay Kumar. "Akshay is a fine young man. We are doing together in another film too, but the boy has a lot of talent. I have not seen him in such a role before. I have only seen him doing action films, dances and glamour oriented scenes. But he excels in other fields including acting in emotional scenes. He has done a great job in this film too. And yes, he is a good prankster who manages to keep everyone in splits," says Bachchan."

And Raakheeji? "We have worked together is so many films. We have played different kinds of roles together. She has played my girlfriend, wife, mother, bhabhi and so many other roles. It has been a very healthy working relationship. We have worked together for 33 years now. We worked together for the first time in Reshma Aur Shera."

Turning to Aks, how is Manoj Bajpai as an actor? "Of, he is an acting powerhouse. He can do so many things. He has done a fabulous job in Aks where we are working together. Even that is coming up for release soon."