This day, that year- 2000 marked the much-awaited debut of an actor, born into one of the most illustrious families of the Hindi film industry. And it didn’t take him time to carve out his own identity, one marked by a variety of films and performances. Today, as Abhishek Bachchan looks back at his journey till date, he only hopes that he has improved.
“Hopefully, there’s been a fair share of improvement in these 25 years. As an actor, I definitely feel a lot more comfortable than I was when I first started. As a person, having lived and experienced that much more, obviously you’re better equipped to handle situations. and that’s all that matters. As an actor, you want to just keep trying to improve with every film and every opportunity that you get, and I hope I’ve managed to do that,” he tells us.
‘BECOMING AN ACTOR WAS NERVE WRACKING’
Refugee, his debut film, had starred him opposite another newcomer, Kareena Kapoor Khan. Sharing how did he land his first film, Abhishek says, “It materialised because JP Dutta (director) saab saw me at an award function and then approached me to do his film, and that’s how it came about. That was his call entirely, and I’m eternally thankful for him, and to him, for that.”
Venturing into something he had known all his life, yet never done himself- was it nerve wracking? “Of course, anytime you do something for the first time, it’s terrifying, and it still is actually. First days are always something that give a lot of butterflies. But obviously getting an opportunity to make your debut with Mr. JP Dutta- that there is a thing of great privilege and honor, and I was immensely nervous,” admits Abhishek.
‘I WAS SCARED TO DO COMEDY’
From then on, it was a journey of discovering what he can do on screen. From a biopic like Guru, to the first bike-action film in Hindi cinema, Dhoom- to even comedies like Bol Bachchan- Abhishek tried his hand at everything. Which genre was he most scared before attempting in his career?
“Comedy. I feel it’s the most demanding genre of the lot. Because there’s very little an actor can do to contribute to what’s already written on the page. We’re completely reliant on what’s written. In dramatic scenes, you can take a dramatic pause. If that beat is not written into your comedy, it becomes very difficult to make it into a comic moment. So comedy is something I was very scared to do,” he says. Ironically, his recent film Housefull 5 was a hit- and a comedy. Happy New Year (2014), Dostana (2008) and Housefull 3 (2016) too saw Abhishek pulling off comedy.
‘ANY SUCCESS MEANS THE WORLD’
Abhishek’s recent years have been marked by experimentation. From Dasvi (2022), to I Want To Talk, and this year Be Happy doing well on OTT- how much does this phase of success mean to him professionally and personally? He also stars in King with Shah Rukh Khan. The actor replies, “Any sort of success for an actor means the world to them. It’s validation for your work and for your effort, and actors love that. We look forward to that. It means that the audiences for whom we work have appreciated our work, and that’s most important. So any sort of success is always welcome and looked forward to.”
