The legendary Amitabh Bachchan turns 82 today. The actor is still as active as any other star much younger to him. On his special day, prolific filmmaker and producer Karan Johar recalls the time he directed Bachchan for the first time.
Birthday Special: Karan Johar on directing Amitabh Bachchan for the first time, “I was looking at the scene from my monitor in the makeup room. The doctor told me to go home”
You’ve worked with Amitji not once but twice?
Just working with him is an honour. I’ve worked with Lataji (in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham) and Amitji, the two legends. I am blessed. Amitji’s characters in my Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna were as dissimilar as cinematically possible. In one he was the portrait of discipline. In the other, he was flamboyant, a very unusual character compared with what he had played earlier.
Do you remember your first day of shooting with him?
On the first day of Amitji’s shooting with me, I fainted on the sets. Must have been the nervous excitement of shooting with THE Amitabh Bachchan. I kept tossing and turning all night. The next morning, I promptly fainted in my choreographer’s Farah Khan’s arms. When I came round, I heard Amitji saying, ‘Please don’t faint. I promise I’ll dance well’. Can you believe? My first day of shooting with the legend of Indian cinema. And I had to direct from a bed in my makeup room. I felt like Francis Coppola directing from a bed.
Quite a moment that must have been?
It’s so strange, but there was just one moment in the film when all my main characters come together for a song. And I wasn’t on the set. I was looking at the scene from my monitor in the makeup room. The doctor told me to go home. But there was no way I could be dragged away. If I had to die, I’d rather watch that moment and then do so. Farah joked, “Karan, I hope you faint in every song sequence. That way you’ll okay my dance movements far less fussily.”
You had some wild fun with Amitji while shooting K3G in London?
Subhash, wild is a bit of an exaggeration. I remember we all went to see the Nicolas Cage starrer Captain Corelli’s Mandolin in London. Kajol kept laughing and crying the loudest. Amitji said he wanted to keep going to movies with her, because there’re two movies going on at the same time with Kajol around. Amitji was quite intrigued by her. I’d like to tell you, there are two performances in K3G I’ve no hand in. One is Mr Bachchan, the other is Shah Rukh Khan. They worked out everything completely on their own. Mr Bachchan etched out every gesture and nuance in his performance. So did Shah Rukh Khan. He told me he’d be a baby in his father’s house. But he would leave as a man, and when then he reunites with his father again as a child after ten years. I left the men to do their own thing. I dealt much better with the women.
In Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna he was quite a Lothario?
Ha ha, you are saying that, not me. Abhishek’s father in the film was a flamboyant character. And who better equipped than Mr Bachchan to play him? He’ll be called ‘Sexy Sam’ for a long time. He trusted that I’d handle his raunchy role with a certain class and dignity. Of course, Amitji is full of class and dignity. Mr Bachchan at 81 rocks. Why do we have to show him as humble patriarch or a retired don? In real life he wears the coolest clothes and plays the coolest music. If at his age if I show even a jot of his zest I’d be blessed.
Also Read: Karan Johar celebrates 44 years of Dharma Productions with heartfelt tribute: “Keeping the magic of movies alive”
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