It’s not often that you come across a star who’s nicer than the PR personnel around. That’s Abhishek Bachchan for you, and in his court, it’s love all. And moreover, you know it is Amitabh Bachchan’s son you are talking to when he apologises profusely on behalf of an amateurish organisers team, which kept the media waiting for over four hours. The flamboyant star was in Chennai recently along with the ensemble cast of Happy New Year —Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani and Vivaan Shah.
Abhishek’s career graph has been rather curious—making an impressive debut with Refugee, he went on to star in a lot of unsuccessful films. Then came Dhoom, his first ever hit. But it was John Abraham who walked away with the honours. While films like Bunty Aur Babli, Bluffmaster and Sarkaar established him a little further, where he was the solo hero, his luck ran out and he had to be content being part of multistarrers like Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Dostana, Bol Bachchan and Dhoom 2 and 3.
Barring Guru, Abhishek has mostly been reduced to playing second fiddle. Point this to him and he shoots back: “Why, Maddy (Madhavan), Vidya (Balan) and Mithun da (Mithun Chakraborty) weren’t part of Guru, is it? There’s no solo or multistarrers for me. You either do a good film or don’t. That is all,” he says, as if in denial.
Except All is Well, which is waiting for HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s scenes to be canned, Abhishek is again part of multistarrers only—Housefull 3 will see him bromancing Akshay Kumar. The actor is naturally thrilled about Happy New Year, which is a Diwali release. “There have been dance musicals. And there are heist films. Farah (Khan, the director) has attempted a cross between dance and heist. Just like Ocean series, SRK has the task of putting together a great team for a heist and the only way these guys can do is by getting into a dance competition,” he says. While all of them are great dancers, in order to look amateurish on screen, they had to deliberately “under-dance”. On a lighter note, he adds, that if a sequel was planned “it would be great for the HNY team to be pitted against Kenny sir (Vikram), Surya, Vijay and Ajith”.
Though Abhishek is regarded as one of the leading stars of Bollywood, what puts a spoke in the logic is the easy presence of flops. In fact, he had as many as five consecutive flops for three straight years—Raavan, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, Game, Dum Maaro Dum and Players. Critics in particular were ruthless when it came to his performance in Raavan. How does he deal with the setbacks? “It obviously hurts. The wounds may heal with time, but the scars remain. Well, audience spends its hard-earned money and it is our job to entertain them. Therefore, I don’t hold any grudges against anyone. I and I alone am responsible for my decisions,” he says.
It is not just critics who have been harsh on Abhishek. “I have never liked any of the roles I have played so far,” he says. When Guru is mentioned, he says, “I always feel I could have done any scene 1,000 times better.”
Famously branded as Abhiash in the media, it is Abhishek’s wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who hogs the limelight more than him. “I know men ogle at my wife. I have never been insecure about it,” he says.
Ask him about his bromance with SRK and Abhi is quick to take offence. “I have known Shah Rukh even before I dabbled in acting. I have immense respect for him. There’s no bromance. In fact I love SRK-Ash pairing more than me and her. They are fantastic, be it Josh where they played siblings or as the unrequited lovers in Devdas.”
Of late, AB junior has his hands full besides the multistarrers. Apart from promoting the Kabaddi league, he has bought a football team in Chennai. “We are going to start training soon and the first match is coming up this month. It is going to be kick-ass action,” junior B signs off.