Completing 20 years in the Hindi film industry, making his web debut, and topping it off with good reviews for his direct to OTT film Ludo — Abhishek Bachchan was on a roll in 2020.
A low point was of course him getting diagnosed with Covid 19, but since it was his year— he emerged victorious in that battle as well. We get talking to the man himself, who was also among the first crop of actors to step out and resume work amid the pandemic:
Breathe and then Ludo, both fetched you good reviews and became talking points. How would you sum up the year for you?
I’m very grateful that I got to do some work and it released. I’m grateful to makers, the cast, and obviously above all, the audience. You feel very blessed and lucky. At the end of the day, we work for the audiences, for their acknowledgement and appreciation. What more can you ask for, than you being able to do your job and them liking it? That’s fantastic! Especially in these unprecedented times.
Did the fact that all this happened in the 20th year of your Bollywood innings make it even more special?
I never thought of it like that, it just happened. I actually started working on Breathe in 2018, at that point of time, there wasn’t any timeline as to when we’d release it. Incidentally, I also started working on Ludo that year. Once you make a film, there are so many other aspects that got for releasing it. After principal photography, there’s a whole lot of post production, release plan, which we honestly don’t have a say in. You leave it to the producers and studio. Is it more special? Now that you ask me, I’d put it that way, it was sort of a silver lining to this year.
How was the entire phase for you where you were fighting with Covid 19?
I was more filled with concern for my family than anything else. My father (Amitabh Bachchan), wife (Aishwarya) and daughter (Aradhya) got it too, thankfully the rest of the family did not. Obviously, you’re concerned about your loved ones and want them to be alright. There’d little that you can do I’ve to thank all the doctors and nurses who cared and worked so hard. I never actually had time to sit and contemplate. At that time, energies and concentration is all on your loves ones. After recuperating, I was back to work.
Of course, you completed work on two full fledged films, Bob Biswas and The Big Bull. Were there any apprehensions, considering you had just got back on your feet?
Anybody would be inhuman to say I had no apprehensions at the back of my mind. There’s a concern at the back of your mind, but it wasn’t for me, but who I’m getting back home to. I live with my entire family, my parents are of a certain age group. If I’m going to be all out day working, and come home in the evening, you get concerned about the people you’re interacting with. Somewhere, I have the confidence that if I’m going to take care, chances of anything untoward happening are reduced. I was very happy to get back to work. Ours is also an industry which literally came to a grinding halt, the content industry. We support thousands by giving them work, and a part of our industry is still shut, the exhibition sector. Cinemas have been reopened, but at a reduced capacity.
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