It’s election time. Celebrities are being used to urge citizens to come out and vote. But Amitabh Bachchan says a democratic right like voting doesn’t need to be promoted.
“I don’t think voting needs to be promoted. It is a democratic right, and we should do it,” the 71-year-old actor, who once won the Lok Sabha election from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh in 1984, said.
Bachchan had resigned after three years as a lawmaker. He has kept his distance from politics since then.
But in reel life, as a ‘bhooth’ (ghost) in his forthcoming political satire Bhoothnath Returns, he contests an ‘election’ to set things right in a corrupt society.
The film hits the UAE screens on Thursday. It couldn’t have been better timed — the country is in the midst of the nine-phase Lok Sabha election, involving an 814 million electorate, with 100 million first-time voters and hundreds of candidates.
“That’s purely coincidental,” he said of the film, adding that “some of the contents of the film are very pertinent to present times”.
“Particularly about electioneering; how people must behave during that time; the importance of voting...In fact, in the film, it has been beautifully structured how voting affects the outcome and if you want things to improve or want to be a good citizen, then you must go out and vote,” he added.
Bachchan says he is “not politically aware”. But he hopes that citizens exercise their right well.
“Somewhere I feel it also rings a bell with reality. If it touches a chord somewhere, I am very happy about it,” he said of the film’s underlying message on the need to remove corruption from the system.
The light-hearted entertainer is directed by Nitesh Tiwari and features child artist Parth Bhalerao. After Bhoothnath Returns, he has multiple assignments — his debut TV serial, new films, new season of Kaun Banega Crorepati and more. How does he manage it all? “Well, there’s a lovely thing called a shoehorn — you use it, and off you go!”
