Bachchan baritone for 'March of Penguins' re-release

The makers of the Oscar-winning film "March of the Penguins" want to re-release the movie with Amitabh Bachchan's baritone. Big B says: "My voice for the film has been a most wondrous and fruitful experience, specially since the first voiceover for that was done by the Hollywood luminary Morgan Freeman in English.

"I now hear they want to re-release the film worldwide and have expressed a desire to go with my voice in the English version. I feel honoured."

Bachchan sometimes loves being present in films only through his voice, "Swami" being the most recent example.

"Yes, the experience of doing voiceovers is wonderful. My first-ever film-connected credit title was for the voice-over in Mrinal Da's film 'Bhuvan Shome'; then several followed."

He feels blessed to have had these opportunities. "Several films, documentaries where I have contributed my voice are forgotten now but they are a sizeable number. The most rewarding voiceovers have been the son et lumiere renditions for some prestigious and important national monuments for the government of India.

"Khajuraho, Golconda Fort, Gwalior Fort, Tirupati, the presentation for the Punjab Museum under construction, several religious institutions and I have just confirmed my involvement for the son et lumiere at Amber Fort in Jaipur for the Rajasthan Government. I will be taking this up by the end of the month."

The veteran actor had also done the voiceover in Satyajit Ray's "Shatranj Ke Khiladi".

"I regret not getting an opportunity to work with the legend (Ray) as an actor. But just a mention as a voiceover in his film is a matter of great pride for me. Also artistically, my association for the Rabindranath (Tagore) album recently and in another ballet by Tanushree Shankar has been extremely rewarding," he added.

Indo-Asian News Service