The junior Bachchan has seen the good, the bad and the ugly in his career. he talks about how that has shaped him
In Kazuo Ishiguro’s new book Nocturnes, the protagonist in one of the short stories meets Tony Gardner, a famous crooner. Midway through a conversation that takes place on a “gentle night” in a gondola in Venice, the singer gives away a little secret about success. “Six years of maneuvering, planning, putting… on the line like that. Getting knocked back over and over again… You can’t roll over and give up after a few knocks… [You] learn from every knock… Come back stronger, tougher… Come back fighting and mad.”
Abhishek Bachchan, whose first 14-15 films, by his own admission, flopped, could well be in a similar position, thinking just like Gardner. Abhishek, after all, has come a long way in not just understanding cinema but also succeeding in the industry that he calls his “playground” and “a place where I grew up”. It’s an industry where he’s grown up watching the work of his parents when they were shooting on the numerous sets scattered around Mumbai’s Film City. By that yardstick, Abhishek — and his sister Shweta — grew up observing the industry, how it functioned and how there was absolute comfort in chaos on the sets, where spotboys, chaiwallas, cameramen, makeup artistes, a host of extras and junior artistes, along with the directors and main leads contributed to creating the magic of cinema. It’s the same industry in which Abhishek watched his father’s success and failure (before Kaun Banega Crorepati bailed out the Big B).
So, when Abhishek’s turn came and he was “knocked out” by incessant flops (just like Ishiguro’s crooner), his father sat him down and chatted with him. “We sat up the entire night and talked about my career, how it was headed nowhere, how I thought being an actor was such a big mistake,” says Abhishek. He has been in Delhi for a spate of functions, including the launch of L’Officiel’s latest issue that features him and his sister on the cover. Later, he was spotted at an event for Louis Vuitton and, that same evening, Abhishek, according to a source, may have pocketed not less than Rs 8-10 lakh for appearing for a few hours. While celebrity PR consultant Dale Bhagwagar feels he needs to change his PR tactics and emerge on his own, film critic Indu Mirani feels Abhishek is sincere but not a born actor. However, each of his endorsements today, according to analyst Harish Bijoor, would fetch him around a crore. And though, according to Mirani, he cannot be counted among the top four or five actors of the industry, Abhishek charges around Rs 1.5 crore for each film.
But back then, till that night, when father and son chatted, things were different. “Producers didn’t want to touch me. Pepsi had signed me on then but, because my films hadn’t succeeded, the company didn’t release any ads with me,” he says in a voice that sounds just like his father’s famous baritone. “I wanted to quit,” says Abhishek and, without sounding too melodramatic, adds, “My father said, ‘I have taught you to be a fighter. Don’t give up so easily.’” What else does he remember of that night? “We just spoke. Afterwards, when I felt much better, I got up, it was early morning, I showered and felt fresh, ready to take on the world,” he says.
The pep talk apart, much else could’ve materialised; the many rings that Abhishek sported in those days on his fingers may have bettered his planetary positions but, more convincingly, “Yash uncle” (Yash Raj Chopra) may have promised Abhishek a wonderful role in Dhoom, just like he did for his father in Mohabbatein. Whatever it was, there’s no denying that Abhishek worked very hard on his role, and Dhoom gave him not just a kick-start but even forced critics to notice that he was a commercially viable actor.
For his part, Abhishek is still treading cautiously. Which is why, not just in films but also in his role as a brand ambassador for different brands, he believes in planning and getting involved in the minutest of details. The scripting of the Idea campaign, for instance, had inputs from him. “The role of a brand ambassador is tough,” he says, adding, “It’s tougher than acting in a film.” Not surprisingly, each endorsement that comes to him can take six to eight months to finalise.
So far, Abhishek endorses just four products (a much lower number than his father or wife Aishwarya). But why, despite offers, isn’t he going the whole hog and signing brand deals? “I stress on quality,” he says — and that sounds ironic, considering his father has endorsed everything from cement to hair oil to ointments and chocolates and what have you. “Even as we speak, I’m wearing an Omega, I have an American Express card in my wallet, I sport a Motorola phone with an Idea SIM card in it,” says Abhishek. What about more endorsements? “Pepsi wanted to renegotiate the deal, but I don’t drink Pepsi any more, so what’s the point in endorsing it?” he shrugs.
The Idea campaign worked wonders on the Indian advertising circuit, tackling “caste conflicts, education system in the interiors of the country while also revolutionising the concept of democratisation” in its various ads. Not surprisingly, it fetched Abhishek the best brand ambassador award at the recent NDTV Tech Awards. “It was a clutter-breaker,” he says about the Idea campaign.
Having had his share of ups and downs, despite being part of the film industry with its trappings of malicious gossip and intrusion into private affairs — the latest gossip centres around Abhishek’s two-minute meeting with an international model at this year’s Cannes festival — the actor sincerely believes that the industry is “one big family”.
The actor started his career with the very unconventional role of a simpleton in J P Dutta’s Refugee, who helped people cross the border illegally.
It never promised to be a big-budget debut. When the film flopped, Abhishek and Kareena Kapoor were immediately written off by critics. “I was 21 years old, straight out of college and at that age one does tend to be brash, arrogant too. So, when Refugee released (I was 24 years old when it did) and flopped, I didn’t worry greatly. But when 14 films flopped in a row, when I was humiliated Friday after Friday, I knew there was a problem. I lacked confidence, there was none of it left in me,” he says, while I sense a slight tremble in his voice.
In a bid to understand why his films flopped, Abhishek starting cutting and pasting reviews of his films in his room. “Even today, I do that. I keep cuttings of all the reviews of my films,” he says. “It was the only way to understand what audiences and critics expected from me.” Gradually, from just another star kid, Abhishek became, according to critics, the brusque Lallan in Yuva, the affable Bunty in Bunty aur Babli, the shrewd businessman in Guru, the suave conman in Bluffmaster, the fun-loving guy in Dostana — to highlight just some of the winning roles that he’s done in the past. He’s in Delhi to shoot for Paa, a film that stars Amitabh Bachchan, Vidya Balan and Abhishek, where he plays not the son but the father.
Mirani believes that Abhishek needs one master-stroke to consolidate his position in the industry. Paa, she feels, will not be his film but his father’s. He has Mani Ratnam’s next, Ravan, as a possible high point — a film in which he stars alongside his wife.
Very protective of his family name, Abhishek says that he learnt a lot from the time when his father faced difficult times. “Everybody who was guiding my father advised him that he should declare bankruptcy when ABCL was sick,” he remembers. “My father believed that the company belonged to the industry that in turn had given him work, and that’s why he kept working until he had repaid every single rupee that he owed. That one single decision taught me a lot.”
No wonder, despite all the success that he has today, Abhishek continues to learn. After all, the lessons on facing the highs and lows in the film industry, in his case, began at home.
