Amitabh Bachachan turns storyteller; discusses women empowerment

November 30, 2013

Amitabh_BachachanNew Delhi, Nov 30: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan wove his cinematic magic at the Penguin annual lecture here where he spoke about women's empowerment, Hindi cinema, his father and much more to an awestruck audience in a floodlight sports stadium.

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 and "literary giant" the legendary poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, whose birth anniversary was just two days ago.

Bachchan said his father had called him his greatest poetry but "my biggest problem in my life I do not know whether I am a free verse or a couplet, a chaupai or a shloka."

The veteran actor 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...?

He called Indian cinema older than Hollywood, now in its centenary year as monster.

"We are our own monster an animal of many animal parts..."

Replying to audience questions, the actor even expressed his wish to play the character "my father played in his autobiography."

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 about misogyny, dowry deaths, rape cases, prostitution, acid attacks and other issues affecting women.

Bachchan said he would try and "build a girls' school again."

He said, "True equality can only exist if the whole society embraces it."

Bachchan referred to feature films as the "great passion of India" cutting across all other performing arts and the Indian film industry as absorbing all religions, languages and cultures in it.

"The filmy ambrosia's nectar so intoxicating that it has achieved what that no Indian politician has ever done," said Bachchan before posing the question "In our cinema bad guys always come to no good what about in India itself?

"Indian cinema has no nuclear bomb never suffers a recession" but, said the actor "people call it it is degenerate, trebling, trashy, flashy hocus-focus," said the actor . Bachchan went on to deliver the "Because the whole country is a juxtaposition of .." dialogue from his film "Amar Akbar Anthony" to a round of applause.

In a sit down talk with Rajdeep Sardesai, Bachchan said previously cinema was looked upon as "something infra dig below the dignity of any society."

"It has become a culture. I would never imagine 50 years ago that a publishing house would invite a film actor to speak.... We should have many more people in the arts coming so that they come to know they are not isolated and their thinking is for the betterment of humanity and the betterment of society."

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News Network
July 9,2020

Mumbai, Jul 8: Veteran Actor-comedian Jagdeep, best known for his role as Soorma Bhopali in "Sholay", died on Wednesday at his residence. He was 81.

The actor, whose real name is Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jafri, was not keeping well. "He passed away at 8: 30 pm at his residence in Bandra. He was not keeping well due to age related issues," producer Mehmood Ali, a close family friend, told news agency.

Jagdeep appeared in around 400 films but it is his role as Soorma Bhopali in 1975 film "Sholay" that is etched in audiences' minds even today. He also played memorable roles in "Purana Mandir" and in "Andaz Apna Apna" as Salman Khan's father.

Better known by his stage name Jagdeep, the actor also directed the movie "Soorma Bhopali" with his character as the protagonist. He is survived by two sons - Javed and Naved.

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Agencies
February 7,2020

Srinagar, Feb 7: Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking a stay on the release of the movie 'Shikara' which is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley.

The film which hit theatres today has Vidhu Vinod Chopra at the helm and narrates the story of the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 that forced lakhs to flee their homeland almost overnight following a genocidal campaign by militants.

Shot primarily in the Valley, the movie is being promoted mainly as a journey of love between the lead couple.

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Agencies
March 24,2020

Los Angeles, Mar 24: In a bizarre video shot from her rose petal filled bathtub, pop star Madonna has called the coronavirus pandemic "a great equaliser".

The music icon said the virus doesn't discriminate between rich and poor.

That's the thing about COVID-1. It doesn't care about how rich you are, how famous you are, how funny you are, how smart you are, where you live, how old you are, what amazing stories you can tell.

It's the great equaliser and what's terrible about it is what's great about it. What's terrible about it is that it's made us all equal in many ways, and what's wonderful about is, is that it's made us all equal in many ways, Madonna said in the video while having a milky bath in tub full of roses.

The 61-year-old singer, who had to cancel two of her concerts in Paris due to coronavirus outbreak, also referenced her 1995 song Human Nature in the video saying we are all going down together .

According to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker, the death toll from the virus globally has risen to 14,641 with 336,000 cases reported in 173 countries and territories.

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