Issue 6 Vol I, December 31, 2005

art & films

Amitabh Bachchan: Leg Shaker, Money Spinner and  a Great Entertainer
Jyotika J. Thukral

BE it the role of a don or a doting father or an authoritative cop or for that matter shaking a leg to the tune Kajra re along with Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan  can enact any role with élan. At 63 today, his popularity continues to soar and he has more producers and directors queuing up as many young actors of Bollywood starve for roles.

With umpteen film releases this year including Waqt, Bunty aur Babli, Paheli, Sarkar, Black, Dil Jo Bhi Kahey and now Ek Ajnabee, the Big B of Indian Bollywood has his plate full. What’s more that all the movies have done well at the box office, be it the small screen or the silver screen. Today  Amitabh Bachchan’s presence  is at an all time high.

But it has not been a joyride for him through and through. For after riding the film industry in the 70s and 80s when he delivered major hits like Zanjeer, Sholay, Deewar, The Great Gambler et al, Bachchan had his share of lows – failure in politics, collapse of his company ABCL and his films like Lal Badshah, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan bombed at the box office. For a man who had seen only hits, this sure was a thorny phase. And, he had to take a lot of criticism as well.

Film critics attribute this mainly to the wrong choice of roles where he was acting half his age. Then was the television show in 2000, a la American style money spinner block buster part of the mass entertainment and that made history of sorts. And, Bachchan rose like a phoenix although this time it was on the small screen as the host of Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? And there’s been no looking back ever since.  Television, the mass media ensured it.

In his career, this  king of Indian cinema has acted in over 90 films and is worth about Rs 55 billion today. And he works 18 hours a day and seven days a week.

His popularity can be gauged from the fact that his latest flick Ek Ajnabee has been drawing audience not for anything else but for Amitabh Bachchan. For the movie is yet another Bollywood rip-off of yet another Hollywood thriller. Apoorva Lakhia’s Ek Ajnabee based on Hollywood movie Tony Scott’s Man on Fire starring Denzel Washington doesn’t have anything new to offer.

Despite that the movie has been running to packed houses, mainly due to Bachchan’s recent illness. It’s strange that when Amitabh falls ill, urban middleclass  gasps in pain.  But then popularity doesn’t come without a price. And the Big B too had to pay that price. The stardom which leaves you with no privacy.

Coming back to the movie, Ek Ajnabee has been shot in Bangkok where Bachchan plays an ex-army man (Suryaveer Singh). But years of seeing people die in ugly ways has made him bitter and unhappy. He leaves his career behind to drown his sorrows in alcoholic solitude until an old friend Shekhar (Arjun Rampal) approaches him with a business opportunity -- he's opened a private security agency in Bangkok, and would like Suryaveer to take on a special assignment. And Suryaveer becomes the bodyguard to a young girl (Rucha Vaidya) who eventually gets kidnapped.

Her parents (Perizaad and Vikram) agree to the ransom terms but the police intervene and the kidnappers kill Rucha. Singh swears revenge and embarks on a shoot-and-kill mission. But he finds out there’s more to the conspiracy than what meets the eye. 

Compared to the first half, the pace slackens in the latter and many things are left unexplained. The director has focused too much on the form and treatment which makes one lose interest.

Even the cameo appearances by Abhishek Bachchan, Lara Dutta and a song on Sanjay Dutt, do not help much. This is certainly not Bachchan's first strong-and-silent loner's role. What makes this one special is the interweaving of emotion and action.

All said, Ek Ajnabee is worth watching because of performances and the slick cinematic presentation.  It is an average adaptation of a clever thriller.