Amitabh Bachchan goes down memory lane in Kolkata

Amitabh Bachchan is a director’s delight; he is never demanding despite his standing in Bollywood. But Big B had a precondition when Shoojit Sircar, who directed Madras Cafe and Vicky Donor, recently met him to finalise the shooting schedule of his much-delayed film, Piku. The movie also stars Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan and is scheduled for release on April 30, 2015.

Bachchan categorically told Sircar that while in Kolkata, he wouldn’t face the camera for two days — instead he would literally take trips down memory lane in the teeming city where he once lived and worked before becoming a film star.

The 72-year-old wanted time off to recall and relive his days in Kolkata as a business executive in the late 1960s. “With age catching up, I really treasure those memories,” the matinee idol told Sircar.

It was from Kolkata’s overcrowded Howrah railway station that Bachchan boarded a train for Mumbai, then called Bombay, on February 16, 1969, to act in his first film, Saat Hindustani, directed by K.A. Abbas, kicking off a phenomenal career.

Sircar, a self-confessed Bachchan fan, immediately agreed to Big B’s stipulation. He also offered to accompany the sentimental superstar on his nostalgic trips to any place or person in Kolkata. Bachchan said that in case he quietly slips out of his hotel in the dead of night, Sircar shouldn’t think he has gone missing and raise an alarm. Bachchan added that the city may have changed a lot but he still won’t get lost.

Bachchan’s Piku shooting schedule begins in Kolkata on November 3, shortly before the megastar graces the inaugural ceremony of the 20th Kolkata International Film Festival (November 10-17, 2014).

School life

Born in the northern city of Allahabad in 1942, Bachchan studied at a day school run by Christian missionaries there before he was packed off to Sherwood College in the Nainital hills by his widely revered poet father Harivanshrai Bachchan. He did his masters — not one but two — from Delhi’s Kirori Mal College and arrived in Kolkata in search of a job. He worked for two British firms in quick succession: Bird & Co., which ran paper mills and coal mines, and Blacker & Co., a shipping and freight brokers’ firm.

After office and during weekends, Bachchan dabbled in amateur English theatre in what was once the capital of British India before the seat of imperial power shifted to Delhi. By all accounts, he was crazy about theatre but disliked the hot and humid Kolkata weather and fish-centred Bengali food.

“Bachchan was appalled and pained by the Bengali accent. Most people in Kolkata pronounced his name as Omitabo. He would curtly tell them to call him Amit — which was less prone to be mauled and twisted by the Bengali tongue,” a Kolkata socialite reminisced.

Bachchan landed his first job and got his first pay in Kolkata — a princely 500 rupees (Dh30), reduced to 450 by statutory deductions for gratuity and provident fund. Not a bad start for someone destined to be dubbed as a “one-man industry” by French director Francois Truffaut, who was flabbergasted by Bachchan’s earnings in the 1980s.

He lit his first cigarette, tasted alcohol for the first time and made his first foray into a dance bar (with live music) in Kolkata. He had his first affair in the city — and his first heart break too. His first girlfriend ultimately married an anglicised Bengali actor who was quite a rage until he was seduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party, sounding the death knell of his film career. Bachchan also bought his first car in Kolkata — a second-hand Fiat.

Retracing steps

What would be Bachchan’s most likely first port of call as he retraces his steps after nearly 44 years?

There is every likelihood of Big B making a beeline for Mrinal Sen’s apartment in Poddopukur in south Kolkata. Sen, now 92, is one of India’s foremost living directors. He is too old to make films. But once upon a time, Sen gave Bachchan a break, resulting in Big B’s first earning from cinema.

In 1968, Sen fell for Bachchan’s booming baritone during an audition and picked him for a two-minute long voice-over in his arthouse film, Bhuvan Shome, from a roomful of aspirants. Sen, then a struggling director, paid Bachchan Rs300 for lending his voice. Sen told tabloid!: “The world’s greatest actor is always welcome in my humble home. My wife Geeta and I will be honoured if he drops in even unannounced.”

Saumya Bandyopadhyay, who penned a best-selling biography of Bachchan in Bengali, told tabloid! that knowing the man as well as he did, he is bound to revisit Howrah railway station and Mohun Bagan football club grounds on a journey of self-discovery.

“When Bachchan first arrived in Kolkata by train, he was absolutely thrilled by the cabway inside the Howrah railway station, enabling passengers to step out of the train compartment and step into a waiting car by merely crossing the width of the railway platform. No other Indian station had that facility then or now — and Bachchan loved it.”

“He was received at the station by his father’s friend, Gajendra Sarogi, who was a football buff. En route to Sarogi’s home in Tollygunje — where most film studios are located — they stopped at the Mohan Bagan grounds to watch an important football match.”

“Bachchan was chuffed to bits by the Howrah cabway and Bengali passion for football which he witnessed first-hand on his first day in the city. The frenzy shook the north Indian.”

Spots he may visit

Priyanka Dasgupta, an avid Bachchan watcher who covers cinema for Anand Bazar Patrika, Kolkata’s leading newspaper, says that Clacton Apartments and Victoria Memorial — the stunningly beautiful landmark built in memory of Queen Victoria in the heart of Kolkata in 1921 — are sure to figure in the megastar’s wish list.

Bachchan shared a modest flat in Clacton Apartments on Little Russel Street with several executives. He lived in a room, barely 15 ft by 15 ft, with an attached toilet which had an ancient water heater which proved useful during winters. The flat was a ‘chummery’ — a term coined by anglophiles for the living quarters of chums or a group of bachelors. Bachchan had to cough up Rs300 each month for a roof over his head.

“Victoria Memorial was the backdrop for Bachchan’s first photo shoot. Anxious for film roles, he sent a portfolio of photographs shot in various poses inside and outside the regal building to directors and producers in Mumbai,” says Dasgupta. The photographer was none other than his brother Ajitabh.

I doubt if Bachchan will be able to resist the temptation to visit Vidya Mandir, an auditorium on Moira Street, where plays were rehearsed and staged. By all accounts, it was theatre-crazy Bachchan’s favourite haunt where he spent long hours on a regular basis.

Famous sports journalist and Bachchan’s contemporary Kishore Bhimani returned to Kolkata from London School of Economics in 1965. He told tabloid! they were active members of theatre group The Amateurs. Other members included Vimal Bhagat, Kamal Bhagat, Zahid Baig, Junie Bose — mother of Shonali Bose (who directed Margarita, with a Straw this year) and Brinda Karat, a communist lawmaker.

Chivalrous

Ritu Kumar, one of India’s top designers today, also dabbled in theatre in the ’60s. Bhimani said she was setting up her first boutique — Ritu’s — on Wellesley Street in those days and everyone was keen to run errands for her. Bachchan too rose to the occasion — he helped arrange the designer clothes on the highest shelves, putting his spectacular height to good use!

“Bachchan was then shy, spoke little and avoided the raucous boys’ nightouts. He, however, had one passion — theatre. In the winter of 1966, I was producing and directing J.P. Donleavy’s Ginger Man for The Amateurs. Bachchan would help me behind the scenes with production and sets. He would enthusiastically fill in for missing persons at rehearsals and his baritone voice would immediately give the part a new dimension. He had auditioned for the role of Sebastian Dangerfield but was too polished for the bohemian Irishman and the role went to an American,” recalled Bhimani, adding: “There is one surviving copy of the Ginger Man brochure which features Bachchan as my stage manager.”

Bhimani recalled Bachchan acting in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe? “He was eyeing the role Richard Burton played in the Hollywood adaptation of the play but settled for the young professor’s role. The play staged at Vidya Mandir was a runaway success. In those days, only The Statesman [newspaper] carried theatre reviews. Its reviewer, who is still alive, praised everyone’s performance, except Bachchan’s. He criticised what he called Bachchan’s ‘awkward movement’ and accent and observed that Bachchan would never be able to make a living out of acting!”

— S.N.M. Abdi, noted Indian journalist and commentator, writes across Gulf News.