Bollywood

  “We have jumped off a second floor, without any padding. We felt Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.
that if we didn’t do it we would be probably thrown out,” said Amitabh Bachchan in a very special For we that live to please must please to live.
interview with Editor-in-Chief of Times Now channel, Arnab Goswami in his weekly show Frankly Through moss and through brake.
Speaking. You guys have already tasted the first part of this interview. Now’s the time for a “Moveor Immotus.” — “Motionless I am moved.”
startling second part where Mr Bachchan talks about one of the toughest scenes of his career in Mankind will never win lasting peace so long as men use their full resources only in tasks of war. While we are yet at peace, let us mobilize the potentialities, particularly the moral and spiritual potentialities, which we usually reserve for war.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anand and how the supposed spontaneous scenes in Black looked natural Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.
because of the number of rehearsals that had gone into it. So, without much ado, let’s dip our The mountain remains unmoved at seeming defeat by the mist.
imagination in the stream of brilliance. Yet again…. Arnab: When you sat with Ram Gopal Verma he Don’t consider that anything has been done if anything is left to be done. —Nil actum reputa si quid superest agendum
told you about the role, something must have gone through your mind, what did you want to or in your The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without it.
own way how did you want it to come out. Amitabh: Nothing… just the joy and the essence of doing I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
something that I have not done before. Arnab: On the sets of that show and this…Amitabh: And There is only one real failure in life that is possible, and that is, not to be true to the best one knows.
exactly the absolute thrill of being tested in the form of creativity which I know is perhaps not Brass bands are all very well in their place — outdoors and several miles away.
acceptable to the common man as far as my roles are concerned and the opportunity to play something Love animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble their joy, don’t harrass them, don’t deprive them of their happiness, don’t work against God’s intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your apppearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you — alas, it is true of almost every one of us!
different having such a wonderful and large example prior to this is to be able to do something I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among men the greatest asset I possess. The way to develop the best that is in a man is by appreciation and encouragement.
different. Arnab: Which is the most dangerous scene you think that you have done….Amitabh: I There were certain great principles involved in the organization of this earth, and one was that there might be a place provided whereon the children of our Heavenly Father could live and propagate their species and have bodies formed for the spirits to inhabit who were the children of God; for . . . He is the God and Father of the spirits of all flesh.
just cant think of any there have been so many, but what I’m trying to say is we try to do all There are 3 kinds of men who don’t understand women: young, old, & middle-aged.
sort of crazy things. We have jumped off a second floor, without any padding without any safety Just washed, How chill The white leeks!
boxes to break my fall & we were young and we were keen to be in the film and we felt that if we Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.
didn’t do it we would be probably thrown out…. Arnab: Can I pick up a slightly different A hammer sometimes misses its mark — a bouquet never.
scene?Amitabh: Ya! sure…Arnab: Black…the fermented black when she knows its going to snow…& Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.
I want to just go little bit behind into your mind as an actor… how do you put yourself into a How sad and bad and mad it was— But then, how it was sweet!
scene like that to bring out the emotions at that moment? You remember that scene…a little bit of Life is an affair of people not of places. But for me, life is an affair of places and that is the trouble.
what went behind the scenes of the moment.Amitabh: Yaa…see…the…Arnab: Just try and go back, If a man can see both sides of a problem, you know that none of his money is tied up in it.
you’re so understated Mr Bachchan Amitabh: I’ll tell you…one of the qualities of an artist is Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I’m halfway through my fishburger and I realize, Oh my God . . . .I could be eating a slow learner.
what you see as a viewer once the final product is placed before you. But I really feel that you Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought. Every man is the lord of a realm beside which the earthly empire of the Czar is but a petty state, a hummock left by the ice.
need to analyse & perhaps the cine-goer needs to analyse how that moment is created and therefore I never deny, I never contradict. I sometimes forget.
perhaps realize whether they like the performance or not… Because what you’re actually seeing For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago.
has come about after maybe eight or ten rehearsals…so in those 8 or 10 rehearsals we have actually Think of what’s stored in an 80- or a 90-year-old mind. Just marvel at it. You’ve got to get out this information, this knowledge, because you’ve got something to pass on. There’ll be nobody like you ever again. Make the most of every molecule you’ve got as long as you’ve got a second to go.
enacted the same thing ten times…so we know exactly when the snowfall is going to come, at which You can if you think you can.
line its going to drop…we know when your co-artist is going to lift her hand and place it on your A fondness for satire indicates a mind pleased with irritating others; for myself, I never could find amusement in killing flies.
hand…what she’s going to say…what am I going to say in response…these are all known to us. To make a crooked stick straight, we bend it to the contrary way.
Arnab: SpontaneityAmitabh: But the fact that you feel as a viewer when the final product comes out Campaign finance reform is a joke. The only reason people give politicians money is so they can gain their favor to steal my money. Campaign finance reform wouldn’t be needed if politicians quit enriching one group at the expense of another.
that “My God! This was a spontaneous reaction!” THAT’S really the beauty of the artist that The poor inhabitant below Was quick to learn and wise to know And keenly felt the friendly glow And softer flame; But thoughtless follies laid him low, And stain’d his name!
despite knowing that this is what’s going to come from her to react to her & look as though it’s The worse the society, the more law there will be. In Hell there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously observed.
come for the first time…but in fact we’ve actually gone through it ten timesArnab: You’re so Whatever may happen, every kind of fortune is to be overcome by bearing it.
understated but I want you to tell me a little bit more because this is the huge curiosity factor on More gold has been mined from the thoughts of men than has been taken from the earth.
Amitabh Bachchan…I’ll ask you one more scene Amitabh: Ya sureArnab: I understand your point of An educated man must have a “curiosity in exploring the unfamiliar and unexpected, an open-mindedness in entertaining opposing points of view, tolerance for the ambiguity that surrounds so many important issues, and a willingness to make the best decisions he can in the face of uncertainty and doubt.”
view but try and look back…give us a little bit of a flashback…ok, the one scene which comes to So you think that money is the root of all evil? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil? . . . Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor. . . . Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love it’s nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men.
my mind is Anand…the Babumoshai scene…that one scene…do you remember? At that point…Amitabh: Believe no tales from an enemy’s tongue.
I do remember…Arnab: Can you please take us back through that moment??Amitabh: Well, to take you Abraham believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness. KJV
back I’ll have to… (pause) Arnab: Please…Amitabh: Anand was I think going to be made with To state a theorem and then to show examples of it is literally to teach backwards.
Kishore da & Raj ji…I maybe wrong here…Kishore Kumar & Mr Raj Kapoor. And then for some reasons I grow old . . . I grow old . . . I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
it couldn’t be done…then it was Rajesh Khanna & he was God at that time. I used to live with When I felt rather overcome with [my father’s] opposition, I said as firmly as I could, that I must have this or something else, that I could not live without some real work.
Mehmood bhai, the comedian, & when he came to know that I’d been selected to do this doctor’s You ruined my life. I lost my wife, my kid, my work. I lost everything all because of a little bad luck. You gotta pay for that man, you gotta pay. Otherwise there’s no justice in this world, otherwise it’s all meaningless. You can’t just do something, and then pretend you didn’t, that it didn’t happen, that somehow you weren’t involved. You were, you did. It’s your fault. And now you gotta die for it.
role he was aware of the script because I think at some point of time he was also involved, either I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. . . . Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.
in the casting process… and he said even before I had heard the story or the script…well, when Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.
we went to Hrishida he never told you the story…he just said “you’re doing my next Her face is like the milky way i’ the sky,– A meeting of gentle lights without a name.
film”…we just quietly stood like students & followed what he asked us to do…but he said the Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.
film is going to be on Rajesh Khanna…don’t be under any pretensions there…obviously because I A cool and candid people will at once reflect that the purest of human blessings must have a portion of alloy in them, that the choice must always be made, if not of the lesser evil, at least of the greater, not the perfect, good.
was a nobody. “But there is just one scene in that film & if you can do that properly, you will be Schools out for summer.
noticed”…and I asked him “what”…he says it’s the scene where he dies & you breakdown and BEHAVIOR, n. Conduct, as determined, not by principle, but by breeding.
“remember just one thing… when you break down, imagine that Rajesh Khanna is dead…I mean, God If we are to be really great people, we must strive in good faith to play a great part in the world. We cannot avoid meeting great issues. All that we can determine for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well or ill.
is dead! How would you react??” And this remained in my mind for months & months & months & months Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
and when the scene came I was on absolute edge & I was thinking of all kinds of terrible things that A daughter of the gods, divinely tall, And most divinely fair.
could happen…you know, death of loved ones, people that I was very close to…what would happen to Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
me & I didn’t eat & I didn’t sleep & I didn’t drink…and the scene kept getting Out of his surname they have coined an epithet for a knave, and out of his Christian name a synonym for the Devil.
postponed…it was happening somewhere late at night. And with all these months of this thing One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
playing on my mind & then on that particular day to be just so restless and wanting to give it my When the bold branches Bid farewell to rainbow leaves — Welcome wool sweaters.
best…. When I was asked by Hrishida to stand in line for the shot & when he said “Action!” I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
everything that I’d been holding inside me just came out in one big burst…as though I’d lost There is a noble manner of being poor and who does not know it will never be rich.
my parents or my relatives or somebody…I just broke out and I felt my God! I’ve really done damn We can’t win at home. We can’t win on the road. As general manager, I just can’t figure out where else to play.
good, u know…and he cut the shot and said “Amit, this is too much…don’t, don’t do all “We have reached 37,000 feet,” said our captain. “I have turned off the seat belt sign, but when you are seated, I suggest you leave it fastened.” Her voice was calm and reassuring. It had no military sternness, and no paternal overtones. It had no maternal overtones. It was clear and warm, steady and sensitive. She wore her responsibility with ease. She did not say whether she was a mother. She could have been. I was more concerned that she was a good pilot. She proved that she was with her beautiful takeoff and landing. She proved it continually through the San Francisco fog, the midwest thunderstorms, and the night approach to the busy New York airport. I never doubted her abilities, and I don’t think she did, either. The new female is competent in all that she chooses. She chooses whatever her heart tells her. She can create a business, lead a country, drive a truck, hammer nails, deliver mail, or raise a family. She is at home in every social and physical environment. She can be a housewife, if she chooses. She can be anything else, too. She is intuitive and heart centered. She is all that a female has been, and more.
this…you don’t have to do all this. Just come and say your line, that’s all, ok? go back!” I You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.
have never been so deflated in my entire life…but that’s what Hrishida was and Look what effect Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.
it had! because sometimes as artists we forget that there is a power in the words you’re If we try hard to do what that truth requires of us, God will send more light and more truth. It will go on, line after line, as long as we choose to obey the truth. That is why the Savior said that the man who obeyed His commandments built on a rock so solid that no storm of flood could hurt his house.
speaking…there is a power in the visual…there is a power in the story…there is a power in Those who are accustomed to judge by feeling do not understand the process of reasoning, because they want to comprehend at a glance and are not used to seeking for first principles. Those, on the other hand, who are accustomed to reason from first principles do not understand matters of feeling at all, because they look for first principles and are unable to comprehend at a glance.
what’s going to follow after you’ve given your shot…there’s power in the background music A single day is enough to make us a little larger or, another time, a little smaller.
that’s going to come…and all this is going to add up to that one single moment…so, Hrishida The way to be nothing is to do nothing.
was right. If I’m going to be taking care of all these other factors in just my individual An expert is someone called in at the last minute to share the blame.
emotion, it is going to ruin the scene. Arnab: that was, that was butterfly… u think you’ll have Love is like the measles; we all have to go through it.
a moment like that again?? Amitabh: I haven’t had oneArnab: You’re looking forward to it? Acting on a good idea is better than just having a good idea.
Amitabh: Oh most certainly yes! Arnab: Well, I’ll look forward to meeting you once again Mr The Bermuda Triangle got tired of warm weather. It moved to Alaska. Now Santa Claus is missing.
Bachchan…Really a pleasure having you on Frankly Speaking…thanks very much for talking to me Mr Power, like a desolating pestilence, pollutes whatever it touches.
Bachchan. ThankyouAmitabh: Thankyou…thanks very much Arnab!  

Original post by pooja