'I am a very mediocre actor'
CNN-IBN's Bhupendra Chaubey talks to the man who has been at the centre of many controversies this past year, and who has been the favourite target of many a politician — Bollywood superstar, Amitabh Bachchan.
Bhupendra Chaubey: My guest on the show is none other than a Bollywood superstar, who has been creating a buzz online, Mr Amitabh Bachchan. Welcome to the show.
Amitabh Bachchan: Thank you for having me.
Bhupendra Chaubey: 2007 was a particularly troublesome year for you what with so many legal cases and what not. All that is now taken care of. The legal tangle is all over. Are you relaxed and satisfied now? A happy person?
Amitabh Bachchan: Actually, I have never really looked at it that way because I don't really believe that there has been a single year in my career when there haven't been any problems or issues. But you know, this is a part of life and one has to live with it.
Bhupendra Chaubey: But this was of a very, very different nature, with the fact that there were so many charges being levied against you.
Amitabh Bachchan: Yes, but there have been charges levied against me since the 1980s, so there was nothing new.
Bhupendra Chaubey: I talked about 2007 in particular because many outside the industry thought that Amitabh Bachchan the individual not the actor, was finding things tough for himself. In 2008, we have seen a lot of people targetting you. The Health Minister, the UP Chief Minister, Raj Thackeray – all seem to have some problem with you or are upset with you. What is it that is happening in your relationship with the general people. Do you look at yourself like a victim or would you say that you are actually the culprit?
Amitabh Bachchan: This you'll have to ask them. I don't have any relationship with them for them to level accusations against me or as you put it, making me a culprit. People are not going to be judgemental about my character and if they are, then they have to be fortified with sufficient evidence which is legal. So long as I am doing things which are within the Constitution and legally correct and correct within myself — which is something that I have been saying all along — then I don't need to pay attention to them.
