It was an Amitabh Bachchan different from the Angry Young (or even Old) Man. Openly discussing his anxieties and dilemmas as a public figure, he appeared anxious to break his own mould. When Amitabh Bachchan interacted with the media all last week, and especially at his three hour long session at the Indian Express office in Mumbai, his fervent denials of his own iconic halo were moments to savour. Bachchan was open, forthright and a far cry from the starched days when Stardust and other film magazines sought to ‘ban’ him at the zenith of his career. He retaliated by ‘banning’ them. But this was Injured Bachchan, the affable, vulnerable man, supposedly shocked at the fuss about him. He spoke of his vulnerabilities and compulsions as an artist and somebody from middle-town India haunted by the anxieties to keep up the act. The cynical felt it was an attempt to rebuild Brand Bachchan for the sake of the son and the daughter-in-law — after all their marketability, tied up with big money and deals, is also to a large extent determined by how senior Bachchan fares in the bazaar. With Amar Singh’s party having lost the UP elections, and Anil Ambani not exactly top of the pops at the moment, was this just damage control on behalf of the trio?It is interesting to look at the changing hues of Brand Bachchan over the past few months. The Brand that had been dented somewhat by the visits to temples telecast live on TV, not to pray, but allegedly (something he angrily denies now) to get his daughter-in-law-to-be’s astro charts fixed at unearthly hours. The Brand had also been suffering from a slight weariness, as the TV adverts focusing on him probably beating Sachin Tendulkar on the number of appearances. The TV ads for UP of ‘Jurm yahan kam hai’ were also the butt of unkind jokes. But most damagingly, Bachchan stood up at a function last year, and said he was keen that his son gets married soon, and produces a “son” so he could become a “dada”. This too damned him, especially, as he was already a “nana”. (Incidentally, poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan has written in his autobiography about the anxious times when both his sons, Ajitabh and Amitabh, produced daughters as their first-borns. Harivansh Rai goes on to describe at great length how his ill-health after the two births was a result of the disappointment that followed). It was suddenly Patriarch Bachchan, a long shot from Vijay, in times when the sex ratio is the way it is. Amitabh Bachchan displays genuine angst at suggestions like these. He speaks of the media scrutiny and its painful consequences, like being unable to privately visit his ailing mother at Lilavati hospital. Understandable, but in times when celebrity lives are followed, and every detail devoured, the instant recognition that the media bestows on you means more fame and more endorsements. But it also means more responsibility, overt scrutiny, and an expectation that whatever be your private view, when you come out, you’d bat for the right kind of ideas. Bachchan today regrets not clarifying the Manglik Misinterpretation — “I haven’t even seen her astrological charts” but the big north-Indian Brand Bachchan is expected to have more to him than just a technique to ensure that producers get their money back. Amitabh Bachchan says he doesn’t believe he is the icon he is made out to be, and seems frazzled by what may be called the lack of maturity in the aam junta. They seem to have taken a moral call on Nishabd (where he plays a sixty-plus man, attracted to young girl) and some have turned their noses up even at Cheeni Kum. Intelligent Bachchan has studied the phenomenon and disarmingly admits that he is not the kind of person who would simply go off and follow his heart on either his craft or causes, “like Naseeruddin Shah or even Shabana Azmi” — he says he keeps public perception in mind and will now watch what viewers feel about his doing roles out of the Vijay box.But then if he is restricting his talent to simply non-controversial issues (“polio, AIDS, Global Warming”), you do expect him to watch the Manglik Marker as well and to know, that while the circus was on, it may have been time to clarify, or just understand what his endorsement — or perceived endorsement — could mean to the Manglik business. He charmingly told the Indian Express that it was none of anyone’s business whether he is superstitious in the privacy of his home — and it isn’t. It is just when it spills over, icons like him should expect to be held responsible. Brand Bachchan says he is a victim of misreporting. But celebrities love newspapers to say what they want them to say and time it with their next release. It is just that sometimes it isn’t exactly according to script.
