Bhopal:
Is Big B the reincarnation of his grandfather? The Bollywood superstar's father and noted poet late Harivanshrai Bachchan, appears to have believed so.
"Did my father truly believe that I was the incarnation of his own father. A year after the passing away of my grandfather Pratap Narain, my father (Harivansh Rai) dreamt of him one night...
"He felt his absence in his life, expressed it and was told by his father to wake up, for he was coming back to him. Startled, my father got up to find my mother missing from the bed. She had gone to the washroom and had collapsed there due to labour pains. It was October 11, 1942, the day I was born!!," Amitabh Bachchan wrote on his blog last night after reciting poems of his father in a programme 'Bachchan recites Bachchan' at the Oriental College last evening.
"In his autobiography, there is vivid description of the incident and the belief in my being that reincarnation," the 68-year-old actor said.
Sharing his experience of reciting his father's classic Madhushala, Amitabh said, "when I recite my father's worksand after... the elation of it... does not have comparison. Worldly wiseness, truths unspoken of romanticism hitherto without experience, fulfilment on life looked differently but mostly correctly, an exuberance of modesty,the acknowledgement of reflected glory, the wonder and amazement of value to him... the body mine, the voice mine... but soul his."
Speaking about the great literary work, Amitabh said, "Madhushala is not just a poem; it is a life in itself."
Amitabh said that though his father was a teetotaller, he got the inspiration to write on 'madira' (wine) due to his caste 'Kayastha'.
Elaborating, he said his father used to say, "I am a Kayastha and my ancestors had so such to drink that blood in my veins is 75 per cent alcohol. I have an ancestral right on Madhushala."
Looking dapper in a black sherwani and spotless white pyjamas, Bachchan wowed the audience when he sang the verses from the poem. 'Madhushala', he said was first published in 1935 and has run into 100 editions till now.
Besides poetry recital, Amitabh, who is currently shooting for Prakash Jha's 'Aarakshan' in the city, also shared tit-bits about his life and experiences with his illustrious father with the students of the college where he had been shooting for the last 10 days.
Meanwhile, Bachchan's wife Jaya, who made a brief appearance at the poetry recital by the mega star, won hearts of the audience when she said that her husband would not get a better reception anywhere else but Bhopal.
After the recital, Bachchan said he wanted to introduce the 'daughter of Bhopal' to his listeners.
Following this, Jaya came onto the stage and said that she had been telling him for long about the beauty of Bhopal but he never chose to visit the city.
"And now that he has come to Bhopal, he does not want to leave it," Jaya said.
She drew loud cheers from the audience when she ended her talk by telling the actor, "The kind of audience you could get in Bhopal is something which you would never get even in Allahabad."
"Did my father truly believe that I was the incarnation of his own father. A year after the passing away of my grandfather Pratap Narain, my father (Harivansh Rai) dreamt of him one night...
"He felt his absence in his life, expressed it and was told by his father to wake up, for he was coming back to him. Startled, my father got up to find my mother missing from the bed. She had gone to the washroom and had collapsed there due to labour pains. It was October 11, 1942, the day I was born!!," Amitabh Bachchan wrote on his blog last night after reciting poems of his father in a programme 'Bachchan recites Bachchan' at the Oriental College last evening.
"In his autobiography, there is vivid description of the incident and the belief in my being that reincarnation," the 68-year-old actor said.
Sharing his experience of reciting his father's classic Madhushala, Amitabh said, "when I recite my father's worksand after... the elation of it... does not have comparison. Worldly wiseness, truths unspoken of romanticism hitherto without experience, fulfilment on life looked differently but mostly correctly, an exuberance of modesty,the acknowledgement of reflected glory, the wonder and amazement of value to him... the body mine, the voice mine... but soul his."
Speaking about the great literary work, Amitabh said, "Madhushala is not just a poem; it is a life in itself."
Amitabh said that though his father was a teetotaller, he got the inspiration to write on 'madira' (wine) due to his caste 'Kayastha'.
Elaborating, he said his father used to say, "I am a Kayastha and my ancestors had so such to drink that blood in my veins is 75 per cent alcohol. I have an ancestral right on Madhushala."
Looking dapper in a black sherwani and spotless white pyjamas, Bachchan wowed the audience when he sang the verses from the poem. 'Madhushala', he said was first published in 1935 and has run into 100 editions till now.
Besides poetry recital, Amitabh, who is currently shooting for Prakash Jha's 'Aarakshan' in the city, also shared tit-bits about his life and experiences with his illustrious father with the students of the college where he had been shooting for the last 10 days.
Meanwhile, Bachchan's wife Jaya, who made a brief appearance at the poetry recital by the mega star, won hearts of the audience when she said that her husband would not get a better reception anywhere else but Bhopal.
After the recital, Bachchan said he wanted to introduce the 'daughter of Bhopal' to his listeners.
Following this, Jaya came onto the stage and said that she had been telling him for long about the beauty of Bhopal but he never chose to visit the city.
"And now that he has come to Bhopal, he does not want to leave it," Jaya said.
She drew loud cheers from the audience when she ended her talk by telling the actor, "The kind of audience you could get in Bhopal is something which you would never get even in Allahabad."
