Abhishek Bachchan comes from one of the first families of the film industry. And now he’s a proud papa in real life for the very first time. He talks about the various firsts in his life.
Crush: I wouldn’t call it a crush. It was love that I felt for Zeenat Aman. I was besotted with her when she was shooting for ‘Mahaan’ with dad. My first relationship was when I was in school. And it lasted for five-six days after which we went our separate ways.
The first time I faced a camera: It was at Kamalistan at JP Dutta saab’s set in 1997. I remember it was Bipasha Basu who I shared the scene with. It was great fun.
Take One: My first shot was taken at the Rann of Kutch in 1998 for ‘Refugee’. I just had to walk in the scene and had no dialogues. In a way, it was good because you learn the whole process without stressing about dialogues, expression, etc. However, on the flip side, such scenes make you believe that acting is a cakewalk!
When I got a hit: It was in August 2004, when ‘Dhoom’ released. I remember I was at Aditya Chopra’s house. We were waiting for John (Abraham) and Esha (Deol), when Adi called to say that the movie was doing good business. I am sure Dharamji, who stays behind Adi’s house, must’ve thought I had gone mad because I was jumping with joy. I think more than being happy I just felt so relieved to know that the movie was doing well. The first person I called was my sister Shweta, who started crying. Then, I called my mother, who took it to another level altogether… (laughs)
Drinking with dad… on-screen: I had done an ad with Pa, but the first time I did a difficult scene with him was for ‘Bunty Aur Babli’. Any actor is petrified of acting opposite Amitabh Bachchan, and this was a scene where I had to act drunk opposite my dad. Who can do drunk scenes better than him!
Meeting Ash: I met Ash in Switzerland for the first time. I was scouting for locations for Mrityudaata when I got to know that Bobby Deol, who had gotten married to Tanya a few months ago, was shooting in the next village. I went to meet him and that’s when I was introduced to Ash formally for the first time.
Production blues: I had handled production for ‘Major Saab’ and I knew a lot about the entire process, so it wasn’t really difficult to put my first project – ‘Paa’ – together. A producer basically has to put machinery in order and make sure that it runs smoothly. I can say that I am good at it.
My bundle of joy: The first time I held my daughter in my arms was the first time I ever held a baby. When Ash and I were shooting for ‘Guru’, I refused to hold the twins who were supposed to be our kids in the movie. In fact, I was scared to hold my niece and nephew when they were born. But I held my daughter in my arms 10 minutes after her birth. I was absolutely comfortable. It just felt right.
