KOCHI: Thomas Matthew remembers vividly how he and his friends would sit chatting with Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan in the college canteen at Kirori Mal College in Delhi. “This was in the year 1960-61. He was a first-year student of physics while I was doing my third-year bachelors in political science. Even then, there was something very arresting about his personality. He was a tall man with this baritone voice and nice manners. Everybody respected him and vice versa,” says Thomas, who returned to Muvattapuzha after serving as a school teacher in Ethiopia.
“Amitabh was an amazing tennis player. His strokes were powerful and it was amazing to see him play with his left hand. We had a tennis club at the college. I was an active member and since we knew Amitabh, we wanted him to come and play at the club. Amitabh was the kind of person who would rush back home after college. So, I was entrusted with the job to coax him to play. He would concede and play with us for half an hour, after which we would spend a little more time at the canteen,” says Thomas.
What impressed Thomas the most was his acting ability and that he had shown a lot of promise even then. “Frank Thakurdas was the drama teacher and Amitabh was trained by him. I think the illustrious teacher had a great impact on the actor’s life. I still remember Amitabh’s performance in ‘Death of a salesman’, a play which was staged at our college. It was amazing,” says Thomas. Besides being good at extra-curricular activities, Amitabh was a good student, earning him many accolades for best conduct and character, according to Thomas, now a freelance journalist.
The second meeting
Thomas says he was excited to see Amitabh’s full-page interview in the Filmfare the 1970’s when he was in Ethiopia. “I remember feeling very proud and boasting to my family about my association with him,” he said. Ever since he has always been reading every interview of his former college mate. So much that, in 1992, he decided to travel all the way to Kozhikode when he came to inaugurate a famous hospital. “I knew that Amitabh would not remember me. It was a long time and we were on different paths. This is why I carried the photo of our time together at the tennis club. It took Amitabh, who could spare just two minutes with me, very little time to recollect our time together, and I am glad he remembered,” said Thomas.