Can Junior make it?

IT WAS on location that I caught up with Abhishek on Aksa Beach (in the Madh Island part of outer Mumbai), shooting for Gurudev Bhalla's ``Shararat'' - the Bachchan boy's follow-up to ``Refugee,'' ``Tera Jaadoo Chal Gaya'' and ``Dhai Akshar Prem Ke''. Did Abhishek Bachchan look upon J. P. Dutta's ``Refugee'' as the ideal movie to launch his career? ``Certainly,'' came back Abhishek, ``I'm what I am today because of ``Refugee.'' It's so important to have an evocative maker guiding you through your first performing paces. I left myself entirely in veteran J. P. Dutta's hands and you see the results in the way I come across as ``Refugee'.''

``How,'' I sought to know, ``did you feel when you first looked into the mirror with your make-up and get-up as `Refugee'?''

Abhishek smiled as he recalled: ``As that `stranger' started back at me from the mirror, I said to myself: `Now there's no turning back, young man, this is it, for better or worse!' It looked at once exciting and final.''

``Wouldn't you, like your friend Hrithik Roshan with `Kaho Naa Pyar Hai', have liked to make your debut in a romantic musical - a movie more befitting the spirit of the age rather than in a serious theme like `Refugee'?''

``On the contrary, I think `Refugee' was the perfect first film suited to my temperament! As `Refugee', I was tested, as an actor, in my very first film.''

``But your subsequent releases, the romantically oriented `Tera Jaadoo Chal Gaya' and `Dhai Akshar Prem Ke', didn't really make waves, did they?'' I ask.

``Tera Jaadoo Chal Gaya'' didn't do all that badly, you know,'' shot back Abhishek. ``I was here `noticed' in the character of Kabir. Like `Refugee', Kabir isn't merely the typical singing- dancing Hindi film hero. Kabir is a small-town man who's basically self-effacing - like I am in real life - yet makes good in the big bad city, getting his sophisticated girl- friend (Kirti Reddy), too, in the bargain. I empathised no less with this Kabir character than I did with `Refugee'.''

``What kind of a person are you in real life?''

``I'm a very shy and introvert person who loves to stay in the background - happy to allow others to hog the limelight. I'm still getting used to all the public focus I seem to attract wherever I go. Only slowly am I getting used to hearing my own voice on the silver screen! But I love dubbing - I look upon it as a second chance to improve upon one's original work.''

``Hrithik and you are known to be close to each other,'' I point out. ``Do you exchange notes on each other's movies and performances?''

``We have been close friends ever since our parents became known to each other. Whenever I see a Hrithik film or he sees a movie of mine, we express our opinion, freely and frankly. We spoke to each other immediately after his `Kaho Naa Pyar Hai' and my `Refugee'. People ask if I wouldn't have preferred a romantic young beginning like Hrithik's. Honestly, what I've done has been, I feel, best for me, while Hrithik made his choice of what's right for him.''

``You've been handpicked to play Chandrashekhar `Azad' by Priyadarshan for a prestigious Indo-British venture,'' I draw Abhishek's attention. ``Azad was a captive revolutionary who died young. Have you been reading up on his life and times?''

``Regrettably,'' notes Abhishek, ``I didn't get the opportunity to read about Chandrasekhar `Azad' from school textbooks, because I was educated abroad. But, given a director of Priyadarshan's insights, I feel sure I'll come through. Priyan must have zeroed in on me because of the legendary character's and my age, plus some resemblance somewhere, don't you think?''

``Because of your foreign upbringing, is there a lacuna where the Indian ethos and culture are concerned?''

``Fortunately no. Mainly because we, the younger Bachchans, would come down to Bombay during each holiday season. My parents and grandparents saw to it that my sister, Shweta, and I didn't lose out on our Hindustani tradition''.

``You have the very essence of Indian cinema at home in your parents, Amitabh and Jaya. How does it feel to have these two towering screen personalities in-house? Is it a handicap or an advantage to be Amitabh-Jaya's son?'' ``Lucky indeed am I to have such distinguished artises as my parents and I would be a fool not to take their advice professionally. I try to build on the points they make. I admire my father as the totally committed actor, so sincere even today - I cannot cease to marvel at his capacity to make his audience still believe in whatever it be he's doing, on the large screen. I admire my mom equally as a mother and as an artiste. It was my father who counselled me not to waste any more time going through college, if it was acting I really wanted to do ultimately. This just when I had completed my schooling and was wondering if I should be joining college. I majored in Liberal Arts at school.''

``Has the crisis at ABCL ever affected you as a part of the same family?''

``No, my father never let it get to me in any way. If you're hinting at my starting to earn so early in life, you're off target. I started acting, when I was ready for it, only because I wanted to do so - nothing less, nothing more.''

Right now, Abhishek Bachchan has contemporary compeition only from his friend, Hrithik Roshan, and is clearly poised for big things. How good Abhishek really is, in straight comparison with Hrithik, we will get to judge only when the two come to be seen together in Sooraj Barjatya's ``Main Prem Diwanee Hoon'' - which is a rework of ``Chitchor'', Rajshri's 1976 Amol Palekar - Zarina Wahab - Vijayendra starrer.

GIRIJA RAJENDRAN

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