Big B gets into the new role mode

KANPUR: Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan is getting into ‘real’ act for his new role as Uttar Pradesh’s brand ambassador. As member of the newly-formed UP State Development Council (UPSDC), the Big B this week began negotiations on acting in a Bhojpuri documentary which would focus on polio eradication in UP.
Confirming this, SDC chairman Amar Singh informed that initial talks with some production houses are being held in this regard.The concept of the Big B speaking in Bhojpuri exhorting people to come out for polio immunization of their children had come from Bachchan himself, he added.
Bachchan, who was recently appointed Unicef ambassador, said “the issue had been lingering on his mind for sometime and was a persistent heartache� which, for want of a platform, was not being attended to.
With SDC providing him a chance, he added, he was happy to begin work on the project. He is also learnt to have conveyed his liking for the state as a ‘perfect spot for outdoor shootings’ and is known to have communicated his preference of UP over other locales to his producers. It is expected that a team of art directors, set designers, etc, would visit Varanasi in December to assess the ground realities for holding a shoot of a BIg B film at Chunar fort and caves there.
Taking his job of brand ambassador in earnest, the legendary actor is mulling over various proposals to showcase the state as a land of oppurtunities for dream merchants, especially in setting up of multiplexes and entertainment malls. A proposal moved by a group of entrepreneurs in UP — TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) who are in process of conceptualising a NRU (Non-resident Upites) meet in the state, sometime early next year, is also under the active consideration of the mega star, Amar Singh informed.
A road show to showcase immense opportunities in UP, to be held in major US cities by the group, has found “initial favour� with Big B and after more consultations between the SDC, the plan would be taken up seriously, Singh informed. “Amitji is game to anything progressive for the state and has assured me all help to develop and market the state� he added.