“Khakee is an explosion while Dev is an implosion”- Amitabh Bachchan 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, June 9, 2004 - 07:57 IST
Venue: Sun-N-Sand
Time: 11 am
The room is cold and Big B cannot bear it anymore. ''If you don't do something about the air-conditioners, I won't be giving any interviews,'' he declares with a smile. Then he proceeds to relax and in an exclusive interview to IndiaFM, he speaks about his role in the movie and his expectations from the same.
You were tagged as an angry young man in the seventies and eighties. Don't you think with Dev you will be labeled again as a strong angry old man of today?
I have never labeled myself then, I am not labeling myself now. You have labeled me. So it is entirely upon you to decide what you want to do.
You have played a cop in many movies and to be more precise you have recently played a cop in Khakee. Tell us something about how different is the cop of Dev from that of Khakee.
I had put the same question to Govindji. Before accepting Dev, I did inform him about the two projects on police system that I was doing. I had accepted Khakee before Govindji approached me for Dev and therefore ethically it was correct of me to intimate him the same.
To give him credit, he informed me that he is not interested in hearing the story of Khakee and left the entire decision on me based on whether after hearing the story of Dev do I feel the difference between the two. Frankly speaking, the story of both the movies are very different from each other. And Govindji affirmed the same. Post- release of Khakee, he saw the film and remarked-. 'Khakee is an explosion while Dev is an implosion',
Dev is more internal, more intense and perhaps a lot more realistic. Dev is stark, hard-hitting and a script that strongly deals with the topics and subjects which lot of us talk about publicly. It also deals with those subjects that we perhaps talk about behind closed doors. These talks are about the politicization of the system and the areas that sometimes the press talks about in a very guarded terminology. The film is very strong and bold in that respect.
It's a story about two people who work for the system but have different viewpoints. But as keepers of the law they need to adhere to the law of the land, the constitution of the country. But as individuals, they also have personal likes and dislikes which conflicts with what the system teaches. That really is the conflict area between these two.
Hindi film industry is such where after crossing a certain age; senior artists are not fortunate enough to be offered a central, powerful role. But in your case you are performing a central character in Dev. Had you ever anticipated such a development in Bollywood. Please comment.
Definitely not. I never anticipated anything. In fact I consider myself really fortunate that even at this age I am being offered such good films. Looks like the audience still would have to tolerate me. We will have to introspect further whether audience interest and criticism will see such type of films be made again in the days to come.
Govindji has always attempted to make realistic movies and as a director he has his own vision and style of working. Tell us something about how close is Dev to the reality.
As I disclosed earlier, we really hope to present the facts and reality as they exist in the society and country. Dev has successfully dealt with the issue of politicization. It has covered not only issues related to politics but also strongly deals with police related issues and the conflicts between individuals as well with the complete picture of the family atmosphere of these individuals.
Ours is a distinguished nation that comprises people of different castes, different religions and different languages as well. Dev deals clearly with the issue of diverse religions in this united country and how efficiently we have been maintaining the concept of unity in diversity. Dev is also an attempt that depicts clearly our attitude towards minority. In short Dev composes the essence of all such issue related topics.
We have heard that you had denied the offer of Ardha Satya. We also have reports that insist that Dev is a sequel to Ardha Satya. Please tell us about your opting for Dev and denying Ardha Satya.
Who told you that I had been offered Ardha Satya and I denied the same? I am definitely not so foolish to deny such an offer. Ardha Satya was not offered to me but had it been offered I would have surely accepted it.
Tell us something about your first experience of working with Omji and Nihalaniji.
It was a wonderful experience. Omji obviously is a great artist, world renowned, international acclaimed star who does a lot of international films as well. He is a wonderful colleague, wonderful companion. We have shared a wonderful camaraderie. One gets to learn so much when you have an accomplished artist in front of you. Any artist will look good if his colleague also looks good. In fact we are good because they are good.
Tell us something about how dedicatedly do other artists work. For instance in Dev you are performing with Kareena and Fardeen. Do the artist of new genre share the same amount of dedication as you do? Please comment.
They also work as dedicatedly as any other artist. Every one works really hard and are ready to put their best foot forward. The style of working differs from person to person. As in my case at this age it is pretty difficult to remember the lines, which requires me to rehearse for four to five days whereas Fardeen and Kareena can perform spontaneously even if the lines are provided to them on the sets.
Personally would you like to share with us any interesting behind the scene incident in the making of this movie?
There was no such incident that I had experienced during the making of Dev.
Tell us something about the music of Dev. Which is your favorite song in Dev?
The music of Dev is not like a typical commercial Hindi film music, as the film itself does not adhere to the commercial format. The music comprises the light of Sufism, the classical tones and also traces of Bhartiya Shastriya Sangeet. Rang Dini is one of the good songs in Dev. There's one more slow and melodious number sung by Kareena Kapoor herself, which is equally good.
What is your opinion about the changing dimension of film industry in terms of scripting and technicalities?
Fifty-sixty years back we weren't permitted to watch Hindi Cinema mainly because of the belief that members of good family are supposed to keep away from the films. So we had no other alternative but to somehow steal two three aanas to be able to watch movies without anyone knowing about it.
But now after a century almost things have changed drastically. Now the medium of film is so huge that entertainment has become a huge business. We receive international appreciation and criticism for our films. And as per international analysis, Hindi film industry would prove to be a growing business in the years to come. Looking at the business angle of the industry the statistics of big foreign firms claim the entertainment industry is set to be one of the three largest industries.
Fifty-sixty years ago, we had never ever imagined such a growing position of our industry. Hindi film industry continues to grow and if the expansion continues in the years to come we shall definitely find ourselves at the top very soon. As per my opinion, Hollywood is the second biggest money earner for United States after the airways industry. In spite of maximum films being made in this country, we are still unable to share a similar position to Hollywood. I really hope that even our Hindi films that are globally released should be able to compete with Hollywood by the medium of huge export earnings.
According to your opinion what footsteps should the Hindi Film industry undertake to reach such a position?
The steps taken by the industry are sufficient enough to be able to reach such a position provided the industry continues to grow backed by good marketing. I believe we do have handicaps when it comes to the language in films especially with our films being mostly made in only Hindi. But when we take into account the statistics, we come to know that every sixth person in the world is an Indian and Hindi films are the favorites of almost everyone. Gradually our films are being made available at different destinations and I really believe that eventually even our industry would be at the most prominent position in the years to come.
Apart from being a great actor and singer you have also stepped into production with A.B.C.L. Will u be trying your hand at direction too?
No. I do know nothing about direction.
Deewar and Lakshya are scheduled to be released in consecutive weeks. Tell us whether it will affect the business of each film.
No not at all. Because I am not playing the leading man. If Shahrukh and Hrithik have three releases in a row, that would have been a problem to the industry. I am just the character actor.
But the films do revolve around you…
No. The films do not revolve around me. In Lakshya there is Hrithik whereas in Deewar there are Akshay and Sanjay Dutta who are playing the lead roles in the movie.
Abhishek's work has always been appreciated. But as far as the box office goes, his movies are not fortunate enough to be termed as profit making. Do you think that Ranveer would give Abhishek that much-deserved hit?
I wish I could answer that question. And I really hope everyone in the industry could answer that question. We never know which of the films would be a success at box-office. And if we knew which movies would click at the box-office, then every movie could go on to become a blockbuster. I really hope that what are you telling me is correct and every next film of his is successful.
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