Amitabh Bachchan turns storyteller
2 Dec 2013 4:26 AM IST
Arriving with a couple of fat books with bookmarks peeking through it, the 71-year-old actor, dressed in a deep blue suit, took to the stage with a namaste. ‘Never trust anyone without a book in his hand,’ said the veteran actor before plunging into his talk, a ‘novel departure’ to ‘bring some others script to life’ and ‘entertain thoughts than merely amuse.’
He dipped into memories of his father, noted poet late Harivansh Rai Bachchan, whose birth anniversary was marked just two days back. Bachchan said his father had called him his greatest poetry. ‘But my biggest problem in my life is I do not know whether I am a free verse or a couplet, a chaupai or a shloka,’ Bachchanremarked. The veteran actor further said he remains puzzled by his father’s habit in his last days of watching Hindi films rather than turning to his greatest companion, his beloved books.
‘I don’t know what he saw in the flickering darkness. It had to be more than Hindi cinema’s excessive poetic justice in three hours! Did he see a flame that burns itself up lighting up the fire of the written word within?’ Bachchan also called Indian cinema older than Hollywood, now in its centenary year as monster.
In his speech, Bachchan, an ambassador of the United Nations, often quoted statistics to emphasise the lesser literacy rates among woman in parts of India like his native Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, about female infanticide, bride burning, misogyny, dowry deaths, rape cases, prostitution, acid attacks and other issues affecting women.
He dipped into memories of his father, noted poet late Harivansh Rai Bachchan, whose birth anniversary was marked just two days back. Bachchan said his father had called him his greatest poetry. ‘But my biggest problem in my life is I do not know whether I am a free verse or a couplet, a chaupai or a shloka,’ Bachchanremarked. The veteran actor further said he remains puzzled by his father’s habit in his last days of watching Hindi films rather than turning to his greatest companion, his beloved books.
‘I don’t know what he saw in the flickering darkness. It had to be more than Hindi cinema’s excessive poetic justice in three hours! Did he see a flame that burns itself up lighting up the fire of the written word within?’ Bachchan also called Indian cinema older than Hollywood, now in its centenary year as monster.
In his speech, Bachchan, an ambassador of the United Nations, often quoted statistics to emphasise the lesser literacy rates among woman in parts of India like his native Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, about female infanticide, bride burning, misogyny, dowry deaths, rape cases, prostitution, acid attacks and other issues affecting women.
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