Abhishek Bachchan on shooting through stress, & otherwise...
Lots of activity and stress in the family. Does it bog you down?
No. I don't stress about what happens outside my work area. I focus on my work area. Everyone is under pressure. You just have to deal with it.
My stressbuster is my work. That's my main concern in life. And if I can't focus on the work then I've no business being an actor. That's one of the first things you're taught at acting school.
How was the Unforgettable tour?
It was…unforgettable! It was the audience that made it such. I realized the immense value of the connectivity with the audience. They love you unconditionally. They don't come to the concerts to criticize or judge but to participate.
And it's so wonderful to reach out to them on on a one-to-one basis. It was just great. And to be on stage with all my family and friends was just overwhelming
Did you see your father in The Last Lear?
It's the first English-language film I've seen dad do. It's a theatre-based film. But he balanced out the theatrics with a very subtle performance. That's a very hard thing to do for any actor. His best? He just keeps getting better with every film. So his best one is always the next one.
Drona gave you a new image?
I've never done a film like this. I had to prepare myself for wirework (which I learnt from Mr Shyam Kaushik), sword -fencing (which I had learnt in drama school), stunt riding on a horse, etc. Richard Ryan, the sword- master from Troy trained and choreographed my sword- fighting scenes.
Then since I had to do an underwater scene I had to learn scuba diving which I had never done before. I literally had to be underwater for 8-10 hours. I loved it! When I was out breath there were people who rushed underwater with oxygen masks.
It took about six months before we started shooting. By the grace of God there were no accidents. But a stunt director from South Africa during a train sequence dislocated his shoulder. But he was back shooting in the next day.
You looked very different in Drona.
My director Goldie Behl was very sure about the look he wanted for my character. He wanted Drona to have a beard since he was a king and needed to look regal. Hence the long-flowing hair, hence all those hair bands that the media was having field day speculating on.
What about speculations regarding the film's extensive re-shooting?
I find it very childish to keep clarifying such things. But since you are asking…Drona started in December 2006. We shot for 70 days. Then we took a break and resumed shooting in September. Then we were done.
The only reshooting we had to do was when our set in Bikaner got washed away by a freak of nature. Have you heard of torrential rains in Bikaner? We had to re-erect the set and shoot.
Then we needed a year of post-production since Drona is very FX-centric film. Now we're ready. I've never done this kind of action scenes before…like hanging under a moving train. Goldie's dream was to make something never done before.
Goldie was wanted to make a crime thriller with me. But one weekend when I was shooting for Guru he came down to Chennai and said the calling of the moment was we had to be adventurous.
The minute he narrated Drona I knew we had to do it. Goldie made the film exactly the way he wanted to do it.It's definitely the biggest film I've made.
You've acted with your mom for the first time in a Hindi film.
We were together in Laga Chunri Mein Daag, though not as mother and son. Unfortunately she had a very small role in Drona. One of these days I hope to do a full-fledged film with her.
There's talk of all three of you coming together in Rakeysh Mehra's Bhairavi.
That's not true. Bhairavi is not happening right now. Rakeysh is doing a film called Paanch Kaurav with me and Dad. Mom isn't in it.Again, an action film. I enjoy action. My first film Refugee was an action film.
Next you've Karan Johar's Dostana.
This was a film I had agreed to do right after Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. After Drona that's just the comic break I need. Every year I get a chance to be versatile. Last year after Guru I had Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom. In fact I had immensely exciting roles right from Dhoom. Now there are the 3 'd's coming up in my life Drona, Dostana and Delhi 6.
What are all these gay insinuations in the trailer of Dostana?
They explain themselves when you see the film. It's a mad comedy. And it was wonderful to shoot with John Abraham again. Just because we shot in Miami doesn't mean that the pleasure quotient was increased. We were working. But it was fun on the sets because we were all friends.
Now you're working with your wife and Mani Ratnam again?
And I'm very excited. Every time I come together with Mani there's something special happening. Guru gave me a role that I didn't expect to get at this age and stage of my career.
When Mani or Ramu are there they're bound to give you a challenging role. For then it isn't about commercial viability. It's about conviction. Some of my closest friends had told me Guru won't work. It went on to be one of the biggest hits of the year.
But a lot of people feel it clicked because you and Aishwarya were together?
These things don't influence the audience. Why didn't Umrao Jaan work ? It came just three months earlier. Guru went far beyond the initial curiosity to see us together just because we were engaged.
Cinema history is peppered with instances of real-life couples not doing well together on screen. In my very first film I was introduced to the public as Mr Amitabh Bachchan's son. Why didn't it work?
If they don't like your film they won't go to see see a pair whether they're together or divorced. And Sarkar Raj did exceedingly well although we were not really a couple in the film.
I'm sure Mani's new film will be very unique to both of us. We start in October. He's giving me another role to sink my teeth into.
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