Speaking from the heart post Delhi 6, Abhishek Bachchan says the fact that Roshan was a character who was an American by mind, he was an Indian at heart and that was what appealed to him the most. “It was not at all tough for me to get into the character of Roshan, because I could easily connect to it, since I could understand him, having spent twelve years abroad in a different culture.
“I could relate to the character because like Roshan, I too had learnt abroad and know how it is to feel like an outsider, though born and brought up in a hard core Indian family, steeped in the culture of the ancestors.”
Having declined the role finally essayed by Aamir Khan and Siddharth in Rang de Basanti, Abhishek almost lost the opportunity to work with Mehra in Delhi 6. “When Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra gave me the script to read, frankly I did not know whether he wanted me to be a part of the film because in the past too he had given me the script of his films. I was happy when he said that he wanted to cast me in Delhi 6, though I could not adjust my dates for the shooting since he wanted to shoot in the winter in Delhi though I had committed those dates to Mani Ratnam for Guru.
“Rakeysh asked me whether I would mind if he goes ahead with the film with some other actor and reluctantly I had agreed too. I think I was destined for the role of Roshan because he came back to me, after tweaking the script after a year.”
Speaking on his decision not to be a part of Rang De Basanti, Bachchan Jr admits very candidly that he ‘could not understand it at all.’
“To add to my confusion, he had then decided to call his film not Rang De Basanti but Paint It Yellow. I could not fathom how he could show Bhagat Singh in contemporary setting and said no to be part of the film and after I said no to it, he approached Aamir Khan. The rest is history.”
Rakeysh came knocking on Abhishek’s door again after finalising Aamir Khan in the role of DJ for Rang De Basanti, after Arjun Rampal walked out. However, he declined the role once again telling Mehra that he could not be a part of a film where he did not understand the subject. “I told him that I was not as intelligent as Aamir Khan is. The role then went to Siddharth.”
Talking on his marriage to Aishwarya he denied that marriage had changed his life, mostly as he considered his wife to be his best friend, as well as out right denial of making any conscious decisions to do films with his wife. “It is petty to think that I maneuver to have Ash in every film of mine. I do not decide who should be cast in a film as my leading lady. I do not insist that Ash should be my leading lady.
“I did two films last year after marriage and Ash was not there in them at all. Ash was not there in Delhi 6 with me. Mani wanted her in his film which has a working title like Ravana and Abhinay Deo was keen that she should be a part of his film.”
Talking about his future Abhishek confessed that he and Ash have not yet thought about adding to their family. “We feel that a child is God’s gift and frankly have not planned about having a child as of now because both of us are quite busy with work. As and when we do have a child, what is of primary importance is that we should have a healthy child and it is immaterial whether we have a son or a daughter”.
