Big B is smarting at the incompetence of the director of Teen Patti, Leena Yadav, which he says embarrassed him in front of Sir Ben Kingsley in London.He says Yadav had not given his lines to him in advance for him to prepare for his dialogue, and now he would have to do this on the fly, while Sir Ben who also has a role in the movie had been given his lines months in advance.
On "racked and rattled by incompetence"
Bachchan writes about this on his blog at length, showing the irritation he so obviously felt. He described his state as "racked and rattled by incompetence."
"It is frustrating to learn that even at the last minute there is no clarity in the dialogues or its formation. I had worried about this when we had wrapped our last schedule of the film in Pune. I had asked for discussion and drafting to have been done a good six months in advance. Not having that time gap has resulted in a hurried compilation of the scenes at the last moment. A hurried compilation has resulted in no preparation time for the shoot ; something that I always find myself uncomfortable with," he wrote.
"Now with production and artist time constraints being thrown at us, we are forced to perform irrespective of the circumstances. It cannot be emphasized more that this shall eventually compromise on the output - a terrible state for any creative person to be in.
On accent:
Before he met Sir Big, Bachchan was interviewed by television legend Sir David Frost (who used to present the Guinness Book of World Records show). Sir David remarked, on leaving Bachchan after the interview, that Big B's "accent was better" than his own. Bachchan laughed it off, but then thought about it and came up with a theory. The Indian has, he says, a "great ability to adapt to the ways and means and accents of the foreigner he comes in contact with."
"In the United States his words shall suddenly without warning, develop the famous and most identifiable American twang. In Great Britain, his lips shall acquire the diminished act of formation in pronunciation, akin almost to that of the Queen’s distant cousin. In EEEtalee, the exuberance of gesture shall overcome his otherwise staid persona and you shall find him throwing his hands about in all directions, making painful contact with unaware passers by and nonchalantly thereafter, contorting his face to every possible expression in the books of Italian human behaviour. Germany, Middle East, Far East, Russia - you name it, he has it!!
And so, Bachchan writes, "my accent at interview is nothing short of an age old legacy of temperament. A temperament we Indians proudly thrive on!! YES !!"
On the walk to Cambridge:
Bachchan also wrote of his walk around Cambridge, a place he reveres. President Radhakrishnan, he says, had urged his father Harivanshrai to send Bachchan to study here even if that meant he had to "sell the last piece of your wife’s jewelry."
"My mother never had sufficient jewelry to sell. I was never sent to Cambridge," says Bachchan, "But… today, in my moments of solitude and contemplation, I do wonder sometimes if ever I could get the time to maybe just enter the portals of this great city as a student and have the privilege of announcing to my grand children - Your grand father and your great grand father were from Cambridge!!"
He ends with a sigh: "But.. I am just an actor. An actor that shall pretend with all earnestness at his command in the fake glory of accomplishment!!
The magic of cinema! And a confirmation that all art eventually ends in its ultimate uselessness!!"