Bachchan — 497
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“Hotels till recently remained within the boundaries. No one ever hesitated in declaring themselves a fiver. Until Dubai came about and the Burg-al-Arab, half way into the sea announced 7 stars for itself. So how is it that a Hotel has the liberty to address itself at the merit of 5 and Producers and Directors even after buying out critics never get there ! Must have something to do with the exchange rate !!”
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August 31, 2009 at 2:09 PM
[On Dubai’s Burj-al-Arab hotel, the world’s only 7 star one as as has been pointed out by Amitji there’s an interesting factoid. A recent James Bond film could have been partially shot here but the producers weren’t granted permission. But Amitabh Bachchan was! For Boom! Amitabh Bachchan has always been adored in the Mideast where his single biggest character has been Anthony.
I said ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ here and not ‘Amitji’. I sometimes use one and sometimes the other. When it’s a direct address (but who is this note addressed to?) I tend to fall back on ‘Amitji’. Why am I mentioning all of this? Because I tend to recognize really only one signature — Amitabh Bachchan. ‘Amitji’ to my mind is really an index of ‘bourgeois respect’. I nonetheless succumb to it for fear of seeming a bit too fresh! How would one address Amitabh Bachchan (again who is this addressed to?!)? The potency of this entire name or the last or first name standing alone seems reduced when slashed with ‘Amitji’. Almost as if he were a family member! But isn’t he?! Isn’t this precisely what this blog has entirely been about?!
I am a heretic on this. I confess to not liking tropes of ‘family’ and ‘kinship’ very much. I rather prefer those of ‘friendship’, ‘fidelity’ and ‘honor’, none of these co-extensive with those former notions of ‘blood’ and ‘bloodlines’. Even if one is referring to spiritual kinship the word ‘family’ suggests something else.
The strangeness of a god must also be preserved. This is an ancient Greek trope. The god who is deeply familiar and yet radically other or at the very least a still frightening in his intimacy. The strange and the marvelous, the known and the alien, these couples form interesting marriages when it comes to Greek gods. Not only these.
The signature ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ must be preserved. It should not be rendered bourgeois by civilities like ‘Amitji’. But again I too use it. Perhaps I also fear being misunderstood. Specially since the subject in question and the ultimate addressee here (we shall not be solving the question of who is being addressed here today!) is so deeply invested in these ‘family’ tropes. One wonders why. Has not there been deeper friendship in the deepest familial bonds? Has one not had friends throughout one’s life? Isn’t any very good relationship fundamentally about ‘friendship’? Why insist on the ‘family’? I will venture this — Harivanshrai Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan were very good friends. As are Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan.
Is there nonetheless ‘family’? Yes, of course! But this term in and of itself does not carry the sort of positive charge that one often thinks it does. In other words ‘family’ does not presuppose ‘friendship’.
Another point. ‘Amitji’ refers to the man, not necessarily the signature. But to separate the ‘man’ from his work is a little naive, especially since we are talking about a movie titan and transcendent cultural presence with respect to whom such a task would be particularly impossible! He has also been ‘Amit’ to his friends. Sometimes so in films though of course Amitabh Bachchan truest alter egos are Vijay (before all others) and Anthony and so on.
I hope I maintain fidelity when I resist ‘Amitji’ to honor ‘Amitabh Bachchan’. But again I perhaps do not have the confidence to address him as such. He might find it impolite or uncivil. Maybe a bit bizarre. I am not known for playing it safe in my remarks. Somehow a bit of hesitation creeps in with this. Perhaps I too have remained a little bourgeois after all..]
September 1, 2009 at 5:30 AM
BTW there was query about kaalia Boxoffice .. check here ..
http://bollybusiness.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/%e0%a4%b8%e0%a4%b5%e0%a4%be%e0%a4%b2-%e0%a4%86%e0%a4%aa%e0%a4%95%e0%a5%87-%e0%a4%9c%e0%a4%b5%e0%a4%be%e0%a4%ac-%e0%a4%b9%e0%a4%ae%e0%a4%be%e0%a4%b0%e0%a5%87-how-would-you-rate-saif-ali-khan-after-su/
September 1, 2009 at 7:21 AM
thanks for this info..
September 1, 2009 at 9:08 AM
Can any one resolve this Quiz related to Bachchan ?
http://bollybusiness.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/quiz-identify-these-movies-and-heroines-of-amitabh-starrer/
Satyam .. you can copy this quiz on your blog …