A Dedicated Son Of A Great Father

(SOME UNKNOWN STORIES OF BABUJI, DR. BACHCHAN AND HIS MUNNA, AMITABH)

Ali Peter John

These are some of the many short stories between the Dr Harivanshrai Bachchan and his son Amitabh Bachchan...

This is a story which taught Amitabh what determination and patience could make possible. Dr Bachchan used to go for his morning walks early in the morning, which was a routine he maintained till he was past eighty. He one day saw a huge stone standing in a little of the road he took. He one day made up his mind to take the stone home. He knew very well that it was an impossible task for a frail man like him, but he also knew that there was a way if he had the will.....

He tried pushing the stone a little further, even if it was just an inch, but he never gave up his determination to keep trying. He was happy when he saw that the stone could be moved even by his own efforts and did not tell anyone in the family about it and all the others were too busy to notice what was happening. But his one-man mission continued and the stone kept moving, so what if it was difficult and sometimes even moved very slowly or didn't move at all...

One morning the family woke up to find a guest outside their door. It was the stone which Dr Bachchan had finally succeeded in bringing to the door of the Bachchans. He had proved that the impossible was possible and if there was one man who learnt a very peaceful lesson from his father's will power, it was Amitabh Bachchan....

Dr Bachchan believed that parents should not interfere in the ambitions of their children and that is why when Amitabh wanted to take up a job as a junior executive in Calcutta, he didn't stop him, but only kept encouraging him with the right advice and within no time Amitabh had made a comfortable place for himself, with a very good salary, a good apartment and some very good friends with whom he spent the evenings, mostly going to the discos that had just come up in places like Bombay and Calcutta....

It was while he was in Calcutta that his friend, Tinnu Anand sent him a telegram asking him to to come to Bombay as soon as possible if he wanted to try his luck as an actor. Amitabh and his brother, Ajitabh took the next flight to Bombay without telling their parents. The Bachchan brothers met Mr K.A Abbas who talked to them for two days and almost everything was finalised and Amitabh had agreed to play a role in “Saat Hindustani" on a consolidated sum of Rs.5000 for the forty days of shooting he would have to do non-stop in Goa and would have to live with the entire term in a dormitory. But Abbas was particular about everything and above all a very principled man stopped when he heard the name Bachchan. He asked the two boys of they were related to the poet Dr Harivanshrai Bachchan. They both nodded their head and Amitabh said they were Dr Bachchan's sons. Abbas stopped his secretary, Abdul Rehman from drafting the agreement and asked one of the boys to dial their father's number in Delhi. The two friends, Abbas and Bachchan got into talking terms as if they were long lost friends and and came to the point and told Dr Bachchan that he had two boys standing before him and one of them wanted to be an actor and moreover they said that they were the sons of Dr Harivanshrai Bachchan. Abbas asked Dr Bachchan if he had given permission to the son called Amitabh Bachchan to act in fillms. Dr Bachchan who did not have much of a liking for commercial films told Abbas that if he was giving his son a break in films, there was no question of taking any permission and Amitabh was signed and had to leave for Goa the next day to shoot for “Saat Hindustani". What if Dr Bachchan had said that he had not given permission to Amitabh? The role would certainly have gone to any other actor because Abbas was already getting late to start shooting for his film....

“Saat Hindustani' was released and like all the films of Abbas won awards and appreciation but was a miserable flop. Hrishikesh Mukherjee's “Anand" got Amitabh some recognition even though film had the ruling superstar, Rajesh Khanna in it. It was at this time that there was a festival of films made by Abbas and Abbas invited Amitabh. But Amitabh had already got busy and could not attend the launching of the festival. Abbas saw Dr Bachchan approaching him and before he could meet him, Abbas in his own powerful voice screamed in a half serious and half satirical voice said, “kyon bhe Bachchan abhi se bete ke chamche ban gaye ho kya?"Dr Bachchan or anyone else in his place could not stop Amitabh who could say whatever he wanted to anyone, even the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi or Raj Kapoor without any fear....

Dr Bachchan told a group of friends in which I was fortune to be a story that was a compelling commentary on the way the industry functioned. He said he was very worried about Amitabh when he had several flops to his name and so he found time to come to Bombay as many times as possible to give Amitabh a boost.

He said he and some of his well-known poet and writer friends went for regular walks on Juhu Beach during the mornings. He passed a caustic comment when he said and I quote him in the way he said it. He said, “Abhi kuch din pehle tak main jab beach pe chalta tha log mujhe dekh ker kehte the,‘woh jo buddha ja raha hai now, woh madhushala ka writer Jai.' “Zanjeer"was released and Amitabh was an oven star and Dr Bachchan who was against Amitabh doing a B-grade stunt film was matchibly very happy for Amitabh, but being the poet and the writer he was, he couldn't help continuing the story he had told that group and said,“aaj main wohi budha hoon, ‘Madhushala' ka writer hoon, lekin woh hi log aajkal mujhe dekh kar kehte hain,‘woh jo budha hai na, woh Abhi Jo naya superstar Amitabh Machan aaya hai, uska woh baap hai."That morning Dr Bachchan met Amitabh and told him that he had completed his task of giving him all the confidence to go ahead and he would now like to go back home to Delhi. That however didn't happen and both Dr Bachchan and Mrs Teji Bachchan stayed on at ‘Prateeksha' till the end of their lives..

Earlier, during the early struggling days of Amitabh, he was traveling with his father's in the first car he had bought in Bombay. Some of his films were released and people could recognise him.A handicapped beggar in Andheri saw Amitabh and then looked back to see Dr Bachchan and did not think twice before saying, “are, oh buddhe, yeh kaise panvati aulaad paidaa kiya re tune?"It was that one incident that made Amitabh swear that he would make it as a star one day, if not for anything, then at least for the honour and respect of his father and the rest is history.

There was the most troublesome time in Amitabh's life when his name was involved with the Bofor's gun scandal. The entire nation was talking about it and there were people at airports and other public places where unknown people looked at Amitabh and passed comments like chor hai,chor hai."But Dr Bachchan did not say a word which is said to have made Amitabh feel more guilty. Dr Bachchan however called Amitabh to his room one day and asked him, “Munna, yeh sab jo sunne mein aa raha hai, kya yeh sab sach hai?"Amitabh did not say a word but left the room with an oath that he would not see his father's face till he had cleared his name of every controversy. He went up to the World Court and fought his case till he was declared clear of all the charges against him. A victorious Amitabh landed at the Bombay airport at 4:00 am where his wife Jaya and all his friends were waiting to give him a grand welcome. But he first drove to ‘Prateeksha' and woke up his father, touched his feet and told him that he had made sure the smear campaign against him and the name of the Bachchan was wiped out. The father and son embraced each other and had tears in their eyes.

Amitabh who had the complete works of his father in a specially made book wreck with the pages touched with gold made it a point to get his autobiography, ‘In The Afternoon Of Life' published in English, a copy of which he made the sick Dr Bachchan come down in his wheelchair only to hand over a copy to me with his autograph signed in Hindi in the most steady handwriting I have seen of an 86 year old man. I still treasure that copy together with the biography Jaya Bachchan brought out on the occasion of the sixtith birthday of Amitabh.

The day Dr Bachchan died at ‘Prateeksha' Amitabh spent all the time sitting in silence at his father's feet. He had however made sure that there was no tamasha during his father's last journey. He requested the Municipal authorities to open up an old crematorium which was not in use for more than hundred years and which was very close to ‘Prateeksha' where his ‘greatest hero' was consigned to the flames in the midst of chants sung by pandits, preists and leaders of different religious communities.

IT IS A RARE RECORD FOR A RARE ACTOR

There is nothing new about Amitabh Bachchan creating records, because that is what it seems like he is born for and will keep doing without any major obsticles in his way. I have always believed that the man who faced a heap of humiliation to be successful and who even fought against and defeated the dark forces of death, can do anything...

He is seventy-six now, an age when other actors and filmmakers and men and women who have achieved great things in their life would have settled down in some hill stations or sat in his arm chair playing with his grandchildren or reading the books he had always planned to, but couldn't, but as I said and believed, this man is born different, born amazing to achieve the awesome.

Look at his recent record. He has almost completed the shootings of three challenging films and shoot all of them according to a new schedule in which he gives one film a particular number of days, mostly it is 40 shooting days for a film.

He has completed the shooting of Rumi Jaffrey's “Chechre" which was mostly shot in the suburb of Malad in Mumbai.

He is creating a new record and according to a very reliable sources, he has competed the entire shooting of his first film in Marathi, “Jhund" in which he has spoken Marathi all through the film which is directed by Nagraj Manjule who directed “Sairaat" and has the veteran actor Vikram Gokhale as his co-star (Vikram is 75 years old).

And he is presently in Lucknow where he will be completing the shooting of Soojit Sircar's “Gulaabo Sitabo" in which he has Ayushmann Khurrana as his co-star.

And besides, he has to complete the shooting of Dharma Productions “Brahamastra" which also has Ranbir Kapoor,Alia Bhatt, Dimple Kapadia and Akkineni Nagarjuna in key roles. And who knows, he may spring up with some new assignments as soon as he finishes these films.

This is the reason why people all over are asking,“yeh kaisa aadmi hai? Yeh apne aapko chust kaise rakhta hai, yeh kya khaata hai, yeh kya peeta hai and iss aadmi mein woh kya jaadoo hai jo doosro mein nahi hai?"

I know that he doesn't like such questions, but what can I do when millions of people are not only interested but also worried about the man they have been worshipping for more than forty years?

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Amitabh Bachchan, Harivanshrai Rai Bachchan