How will you react when suddenly out of the blue, you realize that in the next 24 hours there is a high possibility of you getting a chance to be with the great and legendary Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan? For majority of the Indians it will be a dream come true. I would say even to dream of standing next to him, saying few lines to him and shaking hands with him twice can't be in a dream.
As many would agree, if I call him 'The God' of Bollywood, it would not be inappropriate at all. To get a chance to spend almost 6 - 7 hours around him while shooting is simply unbelievable for me. So how did it this happen? Well honestly speaking it was really very sudden. And the very first moment when Punit called me and talked about the shoot taking place in Ahmedabad for Gujarat Tourism's advertisement - 'Khushboo Gujarat Ki' it didn't excite me much. The shooting unit were in need of some foreign people for the shoot. So I shared this idea with few of my friends and they agreed to be a part of the shoot for Sunday.
It was actually by Saturday that the excitement really started to crawl into me. And it was just to have one picture with Mr. Big B that excited me immensely. So Sunday 26th of January, on the Republic Day of India, Palak, Daniel, Aida, Christin, Daniela, Anette, Miguel and his wife and myself we started together and reached the first location of the shoot. It was the Vintage Car Museum at Kathwada Igor, Lucie and Florencia also came a while after we reached. We all had come as instructed with different outfits and some props, as we had to look like tourists. Palak and myself were actually not called for the shooting but we thought why not take a chance ;) Just in case if we can sneak in for few shots in the background. We came to know that the locations after the Vintage Car Museum will be Law Garden market and Sarkhej Roza. All three are kind of a must visit locations for any tourist visiting Ahmedabad.
The first shot at the Vintage Car Museum started after breakfast. Everyone and everything was ready for the shot and soon Mr. Bachchan arrived from his vanity van. His personality and aura around him was too gripping. I was awestruck on the very first glimpse of him. It was for the first time I was seeing him so close. After the shot he was made to sit in the garden area of the museum and soon the owners of the place came to greet him. He was presented with a gift and some pictures were clicked as always. Palak and myself were really getting impatient now to get ourselves clicked with him. All our other friends (yes foreign friends) had already got the chance to get clicked with Big B right after the shot. Lucie had the best picture clicked with Mr. Bachchan. I'm so jealous of her... ;)
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| Mr. Bachchan pointing towards the gift that he wanted to show us |
So finally we asked our friends to lead us to Mr. Big B for at least one picture with him and they very willingly agreed. Thank you guys. So together we all went up to him ignoring all those stopping us and requested Mr. Bachchan for some more pictures. It was just so very nice of Mr. Bachchan that with a smile he stood up and was standing among us for more pictures. What simplicity and humbleness. His greatness can be experienced just by standing next to him. After a series of clicking pictures, he suddenly turned to the gift he was presented with and very eagerly wanted to show it to all of us.
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| Mr. Bachchan showing the album that he was gifted |
Very fondly he was showing the first part of the album which was filled with 5 and 10 rupee notes whose numbers were exactly the same as his birthday and the date of release of his pictures. Now that's some gift.
We all had our questions to ask him and he very gently, happily and politely replied to all what we asked. Standing next to him one can easily feel the aura of his greatness as a human being. As for me I was just waiting to just tell him that "Sir, it's a honor to meet you in person" and to that one line of mine he smiling extended his hand to shake mine and I willingly took his hand for a warm handshake. Wow, it was just wow. I couldn't have asked for more. It was almost 10 min. of uninterrupted time with him clicking pictures, sharing a nice conversation and some jokes particularly from Christin & Daniel.
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| Mr. Bachchan with all of us. One life long memory
The next location of the shoot was Law Garden market. A short shoot at the traditional dress market and soon we left for the last location of the day, Sarkhej Roza. But before leaving the legend didn't disappoint the huge crowd that had gathered at Law Garden to have just one glimpse of their superstar. He waved to every part of the crowd and the response was a huge instant roar from the crowd.
By late afternoon we had reached Sarkhej Roza and a huge crowd had already gathered to see their superstar. While the shot was getting ready, Mr. Bachchan was welcomed by a huge roar from the crowd. Soon he changed for the shoot and was ready. It is here at Sarkhej Roza while shooting Palak and myself noticed what a perfectionist he is. Two instances one when he asked for more smoke around the frame to give that spiritual effect and another one was during the next frame when even after the director had got his perfect shot, twice Mr. Bachchan requested to take another shot as he was not satisfied with the shot he gave. And not to forget that the director was none another than Shoojit Sircar who has directed Vicky Donor and Madras Cafe.
Here also after the shoot Mr. Bachchan didn't miss to oblige his fans by waving at the crowd who had gathered just to have a glimpse of him from as close as possible. Even the policemen who were around didn't miss a chance to capture his picture on their mobile phones. I am totally thrilled to be around him on this shoot. To experience the aura around a great personality, to see his humbleness, politeness, work perfection has been simply amazing.
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