By Subhash K. Jha
The year 2013 has been as eventful as any previous year for Amitabh Bachchan. This year he took the plunge into fiction on television and says that it is as demanding as any other form of entertainment.
Describing the experience, he said:
TV serials are as exacting as any other entertainment profession… difficult, full of apprehension and the joy of getting an opportunity to be involved in another aspect of this beautiful vocation. I am no different from any other. My involvement is that of an artist. I follow what the captain of the ship, the director, desires!
In 2013, he was busy hosting the seventh season of game show “Kaun Banega Crorepati” for Sony. And his fiction show, being directed by Anurag Kashyap, is also for the same channel.
In terms of movies, 2013 marked Big B’s Hollywood debut with “The Great Gatsby“, in which he impressed with his cameo. In Bollywood, he was seen in “Satyagraha“.
The country went through tremendous turmoil during the year. Post-Nirbhaya, violence against women was an issue that was deep-focused. Then the judiciary was under scrutiny after a Supreme Court judge was accused by an intern of sexual harassment. Finally, the media came under the scanner after the Tarun Tejpal incident.
Reflecting on these, Big B said:
All the incidents you mention have one common thread, atrocities and unwanted behaviour towards women! The indignities that women had to and continue to bear, were highlighted, and perhaps after a very long time the common man/woman, without any political intent or provocation, took to the streets to express their anguish.
People bore the brunt of intense police action and succeeded in convincing the powers to recognise the morass that plagued us as a society forcing the authorities to take immediate and corrective action. In a healthy and liberal democratic governance, these are pertinent signs.
As the year draws to a close, Big B sighed:
Another year gone by. And another to follow… then another… then another… and another.
