"Time Machine is a nice concept" - Amitabh Bachchan 
By Subhash K. Jha, September 1, 2007 - 11:11 IST
You have quite a motley crew with you in Aag.
Oh yes. There was a very wide canvas. There're several smaller characters who have been very nicely portrayed. I specially love Mohanlal. I love his craft. He's an exceptional artiste. With such simplicity he's able to display emotions that are so complex. Unfortunately, I didn't have much to do with Sushmita or not too many scenes with Ajay Devgan either.
You've had the singular honour of being in both the versions of Sholay.
Why just me? Sachin is also in both the versions. He plays my brother. There're these little-little things that have been incorporated into the original. Sholay was the first film that Ramu saw. So he has a nostalgic attachment to that film. But Ramu has developed his own vision based on his attachment to Sholay. To bring the whole theme and characters into the city is a very bold and brave thing to do.
All the actors were in awe of you.
So you say. I haven't seen it.
Maybe they are such good actors they hide their awe.
Then I need to be in awe of them for being such good actors.
Why haven't you and Ramesh Sippy worked together lately?
He hasn't asked me. He hasn't been directing films.
Do you miss working with those directors?
Of course! I'm damn fortunate to work with Ramesh Sippy. Just like I had the singular honour of working with Prakash Mehra, Manmohan Desai, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and now the new generation of filmmakers. Ramu's craft is totally different from Ramesh Sippy's. How can you forget your past? I don't. I love my past. Don't you?
Not all of it. Well you gotta take the good with the bad.
Ramu keeps threatening us with several projects featuring you and Abhishek
Yeah, he wants to do Time Machine with me and Abhishek. It's a nice concept and beautiful story. I'm comfortable working with Ramu. So why not another film? I haven't done a sci-fi before. Sarkar 2 was a fantastic experience. I do hope it lives up to the expectations raised by the earlier film, though the canvas is much larger this time.
Sarkar Raj is your first sequel.
Oh yeah! The inter-relations haven't changed, though some new characters have been introduced. But the house, the ambience, the wife, sons and daughters-in-law and the working relations are all the same.
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