Amitabh: All this, and modesty too?

mumbai: despite the roaring success of kaun banega crorepati, amitabh bachchan has occasionally watched similar game shows by anupam kher, govinda and shekhar suman 'to take a tip or two.' the angry young man of hindi films, amitabh bachchan says any hero who has actually gone against the system has played the angry young man. sunil dutt in mother india was the first ever angry young man to his knowledge.on future projects, amitabh says rakesh mehra will direct a film for his company, in which all the three members of his family - he himself, jaya and abhishek will come together. jyothi venkatesh talks to the mega star on the sets of vipul shah's all the best at the film city studios on various factes of his career and future plans. excerpts: q: in what way have you changed as a person after you started anchoring kaun banega crorepati? a: it is all in your imagination. i had never lost touch with the audience. if you have seen it for the first time, it is not my problem at all. but you cannot assume that i have not done this in the past. and the assumption that you find me more communicative all of a sudden is wrong because i have always been in touch with people. where i am required to talk to people to run a game show, then obviously i have to do that but it is not an indication of a change in attitude or temperament. yes, it does give me a wonderful opportunity to interact with new people every day. whatever my limited knowledge of hindi is, i try to use that. q: how long will you have the contract with star to anchor kbc? a: it will be there till next year or perhaps one more year till 2003. it may even continue beyond that. we are working out as to how many episodes will have to be shot till then. q: were you hesitant initially to accept the job of anchoring kbc? a: to be frank, i did have my own reservations initially. in fac, even the members of my family did not want me to take it up. i too wasn't very sure whether i'd be able to pull it off but by god's grace i could. q: how do you feel having lent dignity to the small screen and inspiring others? a : i am just doing my work for which i am getting paid. it will not be fair to others to say that i have lent dignity to the small screen. small screen has always been there, neck and neck with the big one, whether it is anupam kher on sawaal dus crore ka or govinda in jeeto chappad phaad ke or for that matter shekhar suman in jab khelo sab khelo, every one who has or is anchoring similar game shows has been doing a good job and i have watched their shows occassionally to take a tip or two. q: which are the films in which you are working now ? a : i am working in arjun sajnani's agnivarsha, sanjay khan's maryada purushottam ram, vipul shah's all the best karan johar's kabhi khushi kabhi gham and last but not the least s ramanathan's zamanat. q: what are the plans of your company ab corp? a: after aks, we are lining up a couple of more projects for this year. one of them will be the mansoor khan-directed happy deepawali. aamir khan and rani mukherjee will play the leads in the film. we have also registered three more titles for the same. rakesh mehra will also direct a project for our company in which, perhaps for the first time, all the three members of the bachchan family - myself, jaya and abhishek will come together. q: what happened to the project rishta which was supposed to be directed by inder kumar for your company? a: that project has been shelved because inder did not want to do it. he went away and even took the title with him. he has given it back to us only recently, because now he is also not making the film. q: how do you feel being deified by your fans in kolkata? a: it is very embarrassing for me to be told that a temple has been constructed for me somewhere near kolkata. it is so awkward and frankly i do not know how i should even react. however, it isn't something which is new in our country. earlier, i believe temples have been made for khushboo, rajnikant and mgr down south. i do not want to take away anything from my ardent fans and their devotion but it is so embarrassing for me.