As good as it gets

The screens are ablaze with Amitabh Bachchan. Three releases in three weeks. His commitment is to be seen to be believed. While some of his juniors have abstained from the interview session organised for Deewar- Lets Bring Our Heroes Home, he is one of the first ones to arrive at the appointed hour. Vickey Lalwani talks to the Bollywood legend.

Deewar is a story taken from a newspaper. The starting point for the concept is that there are lots of Indian PoWs in Pakistani prisons. The film is based purely on PoWs. My character is of an Army man. When the 1971 war takes place, he’s in charge of the mission. Due to certain circumstances, he is languishing in a Pakistani jail, along with several other Indians. Together, they try to make a gateway.

We’ve tried to bring in a lot of realism in terms of costumes. I’m just wearing one worn-out uniform throughout the film. If you find the producer looking too happy, it’s because he saved his money on my costumes (laughs).

Due to changes in relationship between the two countries, we can’t change true incidents that happened. People still make films on World War II. This doesn’t mean that England and Germany are enemies till date.

In Deewar, we are just trying to depict an incident that took place. We are not trying to antagonise any nation, religion or community. We have fought wars with Pakistan thrice, haven’t we? That cannot be erased from the history books, can it? Moreover, Deewar has been made purely for commercial reasons.

It’s a scene wherein the PoWs are attempting to find an escape route. It was necessary to shoot for long hours at a stretch due to the location of the tunnel. Coming in and out would have wasted several crucial times. Yes, it was tiring but then, that’s part and parcel of every actor’s job. Acting was never an easy profession, was it?

When I heard the title, I told Gaurang that my old memories are connected with it. Yashji (Chopra) and Javed (Akhtar) saab have a close association with it. I suggested changing the title but Gaurang had already announced it as Deewar in the publicity campaign. So, we couldn’t do anything about this. Anyways, any title can be re-used after 10 years.

Milan is fun to work with. He is well prepared about everything and knows his job thoroughly. This, in turn, makes work easier for the artistes. He developed a very good work equation with all actors. There is great precision in every department; be it planning, writing, research, editing, and photography, even the equipment that is used.

Our experience with production earlier has been bad. So, we want to hold hands with others and divide the risk. The company will be professionally handled with help from other members of the family, friends and well-wishers. Ranveer (Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek) will go on the floors in a couple of months. Matching dates is proving to be a difficult task. Hence we have taken some more time than expected. Mahesh Manjrekar is directing a film called Viruddh for us. Sharmila Tagore and I are acting in it.

The amount of work I am doing has nothing to do with age. Circumstances have forced me to work but now I’m enjoying it more than I imagined. I will continue working till my body gives up and people stop liking the way I look. — TWF

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