As Abhishek Bachchan gears up for his next film, Bob Biswas, which will release on ZEE5, on 3rd December, the actor is going all out to promote his movie, interacting with the media non-stop. During one such interaction with Bollywood Hungama, Abhishek Bachchan was quizzed about his producer, Shah Rukh Khan, whose Red Chillies Entertainment has bankrolled Bob Biswas, about his best quality, to which the actor replied that it undoubtedly is Shah Rukh Khan’s belief in storytelling and storytellers.
Earlier, in an exclusive interview with BollywoodLife, Abhishek Bachchan finally broke his silence on replacing Saswata Chatterjee as Bob Biswas, the spin-off of Vidya Balan’s highly successful thriller, Kahaani, where he said, “Before discussing the topic and passing judgments, why not see the movie first, then decide. If the movie hasn’t been made well, then 10,000 such times are justified and we will have to accept it. You, see the film, then decide.”
Elaborating on the important aspect of commerce and art while making a film, the actor added, “Having said that, we also have to understand, this is a commercial art. There are financial decisions that we’re making, you have to find that balance between commerce and art – that could be in casting, production or mounting, right? That debate will go on forever, the point is we forget one very small aspect – choice, it’s her choice (pointing to Diya Annapurna Ghosh, the Director, who was also a part of the interview). She was very clear that this is a new world she wants, so we forget that.”
Then came the big reveal – that Abhishek was first offered the role of Bob Biswas all those years ago. He continued, “Sujoy (Sujoy Ghosh) made a movie called Kahaani, which had a character called Bob Biswas, which was played brilliant by Saswata (Saswata Chatterjee). It’s so brilliant because even after 10 years, that 8-minute role is being talked about. We’re not trying to replace him, improve on what he did or ruin his work. We’ve made another story. Many years ago, Sujoy had spoken to me about a contract killer and policeman and I want you to play the contract killer. But, I had to shoot for Bol Bachchan in 2-3 months and couldn’t do it. So, he said that he’ll make another movie and he made Kahaani and that contract killer was Bob Biswas. Now, I didn’t know that, he told me much later that he had approached me for that role. That’s okay, I think he made a great film with Kahaani. But that was the film he wanted to make.”
Explaining how and why this film needs to be seen from a completely different perspective, Abhishek Bachchan concluded, “When he wrote this film (Bob Biswas), he was very clear that he needed a re-interpretation of this part and he gave to Diya to make. Now, she brings her interpretation to it. You have to allow a person to have the freedom of choice of their own creativity. And she saw Bob in me. We’re still talking about Saswata’s work because he has already immortalised it. All we’re saying is see this Bob from a fresh perspective.”
Produced by Shah Rukh Khan and directed by Sujoy Ghosh’s daughter, Diya Annapurna Ghosh; Bob Biswas also star Chitrangda Singh and releases on ZEE5 on 3rd December.
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