Exclusive: Amitabh Bachchan on ‘Pink’ and Working With Aamir Khan

An exclusive interview with Amitabh Bachchan on playing a lawyer in ‘Pink’ and his reported film with Aamir Khan.

Amitabh Bachchan with his co-stars from Pink. (Photo: Yogen Shah)

Q: Amitji, how far do you think cinema has the power to influence the way women are treated in our society.
Amitabh Bachchan: Cinema is a 20th century phenomena. Anyone that lays emphasis on its power of negative influence, must necessarily possess the power to look back at the earlier centuries, and conclude affirmatively to us, whether what they consider impressionable now through film, was not accorded presence earlier too, when there was no film. Which medium can assure us poetic justice in 3 hours ? Which medium gives justice to the wronged through punishment within 3 hours ?

Q: But a lot of social analysts believe that ‘item songs’ incite and encourage hooliganism eve-teasing and even rape?
AB: If as you say, item songs incite and encourage hooliganism, eve-teasing and rape, then we must all know that such horrific acts shall also incite sentences behind bars for years and at times for life. Which film has not depicted that ? You know and I know, that in reality and in life and everyday existence, not always has the process succeeded, or been exercised in its entirety, but in cinema it does.

Bachchan looks on as Shoojit Sircar speaks at the trailer launch of Pink. (Photo: Yogen Shah)

Q: Pink is your second film with Shoojit Sircar after the wonderful Piku. Though Shoojit has not directed Pink, what was it like working with him again and when do we see you being directed by him again?

Wrong,<i>Pink</i> is my third film with him. His first with me was <i>Shoebite</i> also titled <i>Johnny Walker.</i>.. not released yet. Shoojit is a thought-provoking maker. His choice of subjects and stories reflect that sentiment in all his films. Quite obviously, it is a great joy to be working with him, and I do look forward eagerly to work with him again.

Q: Pink brings you face to face with some remarkable young actors. I am specially impressed by Tapsee. What is your take on her?
AB: I have said this many times publicly and I shall say it again. In Pink you shall
only notice the ‘remarkable young actors’ and no one else. They are all of them fresh, accomplished and stunning. Their performances carry the film. Their flair in incorporating their respective roles, the efficiency with which they have presented it and the absolute genuineness in enacting their complicated characters was a learning for me. This generation of actors amazes me, and in Pink this generation has left me open-mouthed in wonder and incredulity.

Q: The trailer of Pink shows you in a role never seen played by you before. What was it like to stand there in the courtroom and subject the young protagonist to sexually forthright questions?
AB: Yes, courtrooms have eluded me, thankfully, but this film has been designed to keep it as real as possible and the legalese has been written after extensive research with lawyers of great eminence and experience from several quarters and courts. My participation therefore in this film as a lawyer, was, apart from being a first, quite unique as well.

Q: You’re shown asking Tapsee Pannu if she is a virgin...
AB: The language is aggressive and maybe strong, but that is the construct of the screenplay, or shall we say the construct of the arguments the defence employs to defeat an argument or claim of the prosecution. It falls in line with the story of the film. And maybe they are expressions or words never spoken or heard before in a film courtroom sequence. But they have been whetted and approved by, as I said, several luminaries of the legal profession.

Amitabh Bachchan with Tapsee Pannu at the trailer launch of Pink. (Photo: Yogen Shah)

Q: As an actor who has played almost every kind of role, how different and unconventional is the lawyer’s role in Pink?

I cannot and would not like to compare other efforts made by the industry and films and actors and directors that have presented court sequences, in our films. I can only comment on what we have done and what in particular, as you ask, have I felt performing the character. Lawyers and court sequences have been presented in the past, with other colleagues and seniors to great perfection, and I dare not bring attention to how they or I would compare. That would not be correct or ethical, professionally.

Q: Ok, shall we restrict your comments to the legal world drawn in Pink?
AB: The circumstances in Pink are perhaps novel to not just court procedures, but also for the performers that have been asked to perform them. I found myself a part of not just the performer, but also the correctness of what I stand for in the story. That is the difference. If after seeing the film, people find it unconventional, that would be an opinion to consider. I do feel though, that after the reasons are explained in the story and its presentation, whether people would want to label it as unconventional. For me as the character in the film, that assessment would annoy and anger me. Because what I stand for, not just in the film, but in my life too, is not unconventional. My belief defies and denies that. They that shall have arguments to defend against me, shall have to first stand and convincingly explain to me what is ‘unconventional’ and what ‘conventional’.

Bachchan’s still got so much swag. (Photo: Yogen Shah)

Q: Pink addresses itself to the question of female sexuality and its violation by patriarchal forces. As someone who champions the cause of the girl child in real life, how deeply were you affected by the film’s theme?
AB: Deeply... because the words that I speak in the film, would have been no different from what I would say even if I was not acting in Pink.

Q: This year you’ve already played two dark grieving characters in Wazir and Te3n. Is Pink another grim character? Amitji, are you not overwhelmed by melancholic roles this year?
AB: Yes, true I have... so? What is wrong with that, life is grim also.

Q: You are now doing a film for YashRaj with Aamir Khan for the first time. What can we expect to see in this film?
AB: I do not have the permission to talk of that.

Q: Isn’t it strange that you and Aamir have never worked together before?
AB: Yes, it is strange, but then I haven’t worked with Brando either, or many other such greats!