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 Marriage
of the year? Looks more like the marriage of the century. I cut through
the appreciative screams to a flashback nine years ago at a function to
facilitate Anup Jalota where I saw Abhishek Bachchan for the first
time. He
was with his mother, the ever-attentive son listening closely to every
word she said. Abhishek sat a row behind where I was placed along with
one of my magazine editors.
To say that Abhishek was the
cynosure of all eyes would be no exaggeration. Everyone at the function
was whispering about his debut in films and his association with
Karisma Kapoor.
I asked my editor-friend for an introduction.
But to my puzzlement, he ignored the request. It took me years to
realise that journalists guard their star contacts in Mumbai more
fiercely than housewives protect their recipes.
Today, I'm
proud and happy to say I'm very close to all the Bachchans, and
Abhishek is like a sibling, while the protective colleague has
vanished.
The lesson of humility that I learnt from such experiences is also an essential part of Abhishek's character.
There
isn't a vain bone in his body. Abhishek is naturally and irreversibly
gregarious. He gets annoyed when I call him the male Rani Mukerji just
as he calls me 'uncle' to annoy me.
We are more chums than two
guys separated by a generation. Unlike some other stars who try
oh-so-hard to be friendly, Abhishek needs to make no effort in that
direction. Of all the youngsters that I know in the film industry,
Abhishek is by far the most affable. He reaches out instinctively. He
loves coming into contact with people from the film industry and it
shows in his attitude.
He makes it a point to be friendly even
to those whom he hardly knows. My friend Sanjeev Kohli, the CEO of Yash
Raj Films, says, "The Bachchans have many huge achievements to their
credit. But I feel Abhishek is their greatest achievement. He generates
only goodwill."
I'll have to go with that. There's something
enormously positive about Abhishek. The quality transmits itself
effortlessly to the person in front of him.
Anyone who tells
you that Abhishek is vain or arrogant about being a Bachchan, is a
liar. Neither proud nor modest about his tremendous pedigree, Abhishek
would have been who he is regardless of his surname. That mischievous
glint in his eye often manifests itself in harmless Pranks.
He
can make you squirm with his jokes. Once, in front of his dad, he
suddenly turned to me to ask, "Who's a better actor Amitabh Bachchan or
Naseeruddin Shah?"
It was my turn to tell him to shut-up. Over
the years that I've known this Bachchan kid, we've established a
comfort level that goes way beyond an ordinary journalist-actor
relationship.
But he loves the company of his friends - men and
women - of which he has quite an impressive roster. You can often catch
him with either a bunch of them or with one of them at home at a
restaurant having a ball.
But there's a bleeding heart under
that prankish, mischievous front that understands a friend's
predicament immediately. Once when at 2.30 a.m. a very drunk very badly
behaved male superstar was giving me major grief I ran into Abhishek in
a hotel lobby. "What happened to you?" he asked immediately.
I
told him. In no time at all Abhishek led the sizzled bratty superstar
away from me. I breathed a sigh of relief, thanking the stars above for
stars like Abhishek down below.
I don't think being a Bachchan
was a problem for Abhishek even when he didn't have a big success like
"Dhoom" or hugely lauded performances like "Yuva", "Phir Milenge" and
"Guru" to his credit. It was people around him who presumed Abhishek
would've tonnes of attitude because of his surname.
But I know
better. There's no better son, grandson or friend in Bollywood. I've
seen him being equally attentive and gentle in all three roles and I'm
sure there can be no better spouse than Abhishek either.
Unlucky
is the girl who loved and lost him. She'd have not only got the most
caring and charismatic bachelor to be her husband but also the most
devoted (not to mention famous) parents-in-law in India.
I guess
we are all born with our own karma. Some of us find the happiness we
deserve. Today, I see Abhishek dancing at his own wedding. He thinks
he's the luckiest guy on earth.
Indeed Aishwarya Rai
has come a long way. Her climb up the steep ladder of stardom has been
focused, determined and surprisingly free of compromises.
Let
me put it bluntly. Aishwarya never plays up to any of her heroes. I've
seen the kind of leeway leading ladies allow the big guys just to
remain in their good books. I've seen Salman Khan pushing, pummelling a
very hot and very sizzling leading lady right in front of me in my
hotel room in Mumbai.
Aishwarya doesn't believe in compromising
with her conscience to remain successful. She fought on a matter
principle with the mighty Khan triumvirate. First, of course Salman
Khan, whom she categorically told to get off while he still ahead.
Then
there was a difference of opinion with Shah Rukh Khan, which cost her
precious films with India's biggest superstar. Finally, she opted out
of Ketan Mehta's "The Rising" with Aamir Khan while Rani Mukerji and
Amisha Patel hopped, skipped and jumped all around the Khan-driven
project.
There are definitely issues larger than co-stars that
occupy Aishwarya's mind. She's out to make a place for herself among
the all time greats. In her quest for the crest she's unstoppable.
Co-stars are definitely a problem for Aishwarya. But if not the Khans then chalo, Martin Henderson hi sahi.
And if not Bollywood then Hollywood here she comes! Clearly, cynics can go climb up the nearest wall.
They
adore her in the Britain. Hundreds of SMS messages from all over the
world clog her cellphone. Once the darned instrument simply collapsed!
"Good it was my phone, and not me," she jokes.
Even
if London's The Observer critic Philip French finds Aishwarya
"incredibly beautiful" Indian critics have been left largely cold by
her performances. This is in direct contrast to the way we generally
react to our stars acquiring global popularity.
Om Puri and
Saeed Jaffrey were two actors whose career back home in India acquired
that extra edge after they appeared in British and American films. Not
all of the work that they've done abroad is pivotal, let alone
exemplary.
Aishwarya is incapable of spewing malice or turning a
situation to her own advantage. Her magic mantra in life is, "I'll
never do anything to compromise my family and my principles."
No one knows about the threats and humiliations she was subjected to just because she said no to a certain relationship.
"All I know is, I've survived, and I'm moved on."
Aishwarya
is perfectionist. In a world where actresses generally believe in a
chalta-hai attitude and run for marriage the minute the opportunity
shows up, she strives to be the first real female superstar from
Bollywood. What's wrong with that?
Aishwarya doesn't talk to
the press as freely as some of her colleagues, who love to spread
themselves out thinly on the satiny pages of papers and magazines. Many
of the most powerful stars in Mumbai have eaten crow and patched up
with the very magazines that have hurt them and their images the most.
Not
Aishwarya. The magazines, which have been the nastiest to her, are
still smarting under the snub she has so effectively delivered them.
They've tried every trick in the book to make her speak. When they've
failed to move her into submission they've damned her dreams.
She's
done it. And how! The nay-sayers thought she couldn't. I suspected she
could. In the right hands Ash is always ready for and up to challenges.
I've seen the performances Mani Ratnam, Rajiv Menon, Rituparno Ghosh
and above all Sanjay Leela Bhansali had got out of her in the past.
Yes,
given a chance she could have herself a histrionic blast. The only
problem is the beauty. So overpowering is her image as the country's
No.1 brand ambassadress that we tend to discount if not entirely
dismiss her bravura attempts to get into character.
Now as she sits over a volcano of praise she can afford to smile.
"This
whole beauty thing is so redundant. It's the people around me who have
a problem with my looks. It's they who allow 'it' to come in the way of
assessing my performances sincerely."
Once a look of haunted pensiveness passed through her immaculate face.
"People
said I giggled too much. What was I supposed to do? Cry and show my
bleeding heart in public? To hide what I was going through I had to
laugh my way through the crisis."
Today, she's laughing all the way to being the daughter-in-law in the country's most famous celebrity home.
How does Aishwarya Rai Bachchan sound?
By Subhash K. Jha
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