Amitabh Bachchan spoke about films, women empowerment and his father at a lecture in New Delhi.
Mumbai:
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan wove hiscinematic magic at the Penguin annual lecture here where hespoke about women's empowerment, Hindi cinema, his father andmuch more to an awestruck audience in a floodlight sportsstadium.
Arriving with a couple of fat books with bookmarks peekingthrough it, the 71-year-old actor, dressed in a deep bluesuit, took to the stage with a 'namaste'.
"Never trust anyone without a book in his hand," said theveteran actor before plunging into his talk a "noveldeparture" to "bring some others script to life" and"entertain thoughts than merely amuse."
He dipped into memories of his father and "literary giant"the legendary poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, whose birthanniversary was just two days ago.
Bachchan said his father had called him his greatestpoetry but "my biggest problem in my life I do not knowwhether I am a free verse or a couplet, a chaupai or ashloka."
The veteran actor said he remains puzzled by his father'shabit in his last days of watching Hindi films rather thanturning to his greatest companion his beloved books.
"I don't know what he saw in the flickering darkness ithad to be more than Hindi cinema's excessive poetic justice inthree hours!"
"Did he see a flame that burns itself up lighting up thefire of the written word within...?
He called Indian cinema older than Hollywood, now in itscentenary year as monster.
"We are our own monster an animal of many animal parts..."
Replying to audience questions, the actor even expressedhis wish to play the character "my father played in hisautobiography."
In his speech, Bachchan, an ambassador of the UnitedNations, often quoted statistics to emphasise the lesserliteracy rates among woman in parts of India like his nativeUttar Pradesh and Bihar, about female infanticide, brideburning about misogyny, dowry deaths, rape cases,prostitution, acid attacks and other issues affecting women.
Bachchan said he would try and "build a girls' schoolagain."
He said, "True equality can only exist if the wholesociety embraces it."
Bachchan referred to feature films as the "great passionof India" cutting across all other performing arts and theIndian film industry as absorbing all religions, languages andcultures in it.
"The filmy ambrosia's nectar so intoxicating that it hasachieved what that no Indian politician has ever done," saidBachchan before posing the question "In our cinema bad guysalways come to no good what about in India itself?
"Indian cinema has no nuclear bomb never suffers arecession" but, said the actor "people call it it isdegenerate, trebling, trashy, flashy hocus-focus," said theactor . Bachchan went on to deliver the "Because the wholecountry is a juxtaposition of .." dialogue from his film AmarAkbar Anthony to a round of applause.
Bachchan also said previously cinema was looked upon as "something infra digbelow the dignity of any society."
"It has become a culture. I would never imagine 50 yearsago that a publishing house would invite a film actor tospeak. We should have many more people in the arts comingso that they come to know they are not isolated and theirthinking is for the betterment of humanity and the bettermentof society."
Arriving with a couple of fat books with bookmarks peekingthrough it, the 71-year-old actor, dressed in a deep bluesuit, took to the stage with a 'namaste'.
"Never trust anyone without a book in his hand," said theveteran actor before plunging into his talk a "noveldeparture" to "bring some others script to life" and"entertain thoughts than merely amuse."
He dipped into memories of his father and "literary giant"the legendary poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, whose birthanniversary was just two days ago.
Bachchan said his father had called him his greatestpoetry but "my biggest problem in my life I do not knowwhether I am a free verse or a couplet, a chaupai or ashloka."
The veteran actor said he remains puzzled by his father'shabit in his last days of watching Hindi films rather thanturning to his greatest companion his beloved books.
"I don't know what he saw in the flickering darkness ithad to be more than Hindi cinema's excessive poetic justice inthree hours!"
"Did he see a flame that burns itself up lighting up thefire of the written word within...?
He called Indian cinema older than Hollywood, now in itscentenary year as monster.
"We are our own monster an animal of many animal parts..."
Replying to audience questions, the actor even expressedhis wish to play the character "my father played in hisautobiography."
In his speech, Bachchan, an ambassador of the UnitedNations, often quoted statistics to emphasise the lesserliteracy rates among woman in parts of India like his nativeUttar Pradesh and Bihar, about female infanticide, brideburning about misogyny, dowry deaths, rape cases,prostitution, acid attacks and other issues affecting women.
Bachchan said he would try and "build a girls' schoolagain."
He said, "True equality can only exist if the wholesociety embraces it."
Bachchan referred to feature films as the "great passionof India" cutting across all other performing arts and theIndian film industry as absorbing all religions, languages andcultures in it.
"The filmy ambrosia's nectar so intoxicating that it hasachieved what that no Indian politician has ever done," saidBachchan before posing the question "In our cinema bad guysalways come to no good what about in India itself?
"Indian cinema has no nuclear bomb never suffers arecession" but, said the actor "people call it it isdegenerate, trebling, trashy, flashy hocus-focus," said theactor . Bachchan went on to deliver the "Because the wholecountry is a juxtaposition of .." dialogue from his film AmarAkbar Anthony to a round of applause.
Bachchan also said previously cinema was looked upon as "something infra digbelow the dignity of any society."
"It has become a culture. I would never imagine 50 yearsago that a publishing house would invite a film actor tospeak. We should have many more people in the arts comingso that they come to know they are not isolated and theirthinking is for the betterment of humanity and the bettermentof society."
