Amitabh Bachchan's Official Blog

DAY 1574

Jalsa , Mumbai Aug 9/10, 2012 Thu/Fri 1 : 14 AM

I did begin early, but one Mr Bolt has driven me back to the Olympics and its going to be another late morning !! He comes on in just a moment for the 200 meters, having already won the 100 meters. It is remarkable how this one man has mesmerized the entire London 2012 Olympics, dubbed now as the fastest man on the planet !!

But it has always been that way hasn’t it ?? Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis .. along many previous Olympics .. but really in life too, in many other vocations there is always that one person or personality that attracts or gets attractive to all.

Mahatma Gandhi to start with, how it became a name that an entire nation was identified by and the entire world recognized as one that proved beyond doubt that a non violent movement could defeat the most powerful forces in the world.

After Independence the first Prime Minister Pt Jawarharlal Nehru was the element of all that was expected and beyond of one that was leading the country to fresh and newer horizons. It was Chacha Nehru among all the children, and Panditji for the others, a charm and charisma that endeared itself to everyone. There was never a moment when he was not talked about throughout the country. And as the days and events unfolded an exceptional individual rose above the others to shine and overwhelm the rest of us.

There were others of equal calibre and importance, but somehow the image that you lived with most was of that one individual. Abe Lincoln, JFK, Winston Churchill, Lenin, Yuri Gagarin, Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Nadal, Federer, Marlon Brando, Elvis, Beatles, Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Bradman, Charlie Chaplin …. the list is endless …

What was it then that made them so ? Just success or was there something more. And if so what more ?

I was in an interview with Anupama Chopra this afternoon trying to give an adequate answer to most of the questions that were similar in nature to the above, and really there was nothing that I could add to make any query more legible or understanding.

In the lonely and quiet hours of the early morning, the machine sounds of the UFO, the sudden flash of monsoon rain that disrupts the television, forcing you to go to the cable instead of the satellite mode, one sits with the most magnificent thoughts and ideas. Thoughts that you would love to express, ideas that one would want to share. But sensitive as I am to feelings of others, one keeps all of it within. One wrong word written in all honesty and a modicum of integrity will get interpreted in the wrong, purely because, right does not pay …!!

There are times when one holds back what one actually feels … for various reasons. The upsetting of an individual, a misadventure that should really have remained with me, details of certain people, perhaps important in their own right, but cannot be shared. And there could be debate on this for endless hours and days, but it is best to remain closed.

Write a book many would suggest. I wonder at first draw why they insist. Is it truly the interest that excites them of a subject written by me. Or is it the fact that if written it would obviously recount the truth, which in many ways could give those that read it occasion to run or deal with it - as do most biographies !! The protection of that mystique would no longer be secure, and many would suggest that, mystique be damned, it would make wonderful reading, purely because of the long innings in the Industry, and my insights into them. And perhaps bring detail to some of the incidents that could make for interesting reading.

My own reaction to this has always been to leave all this with family or one that has trust. Or take it down with me to my grave. I am not certain at this moment what I would want to do. But then when am I ever !!

I share more than I may have perhaps ever done, on this one platform, which has now become home, and its inmates my Ef - an abbreviation constructed out of fun and jest, but which now seems to have developed some weight and proportion. Why would I need to write a separate document that opens the many doors of my being, when I have, what you read now. I would think that this was sufficient enough to disclose whatever little there is to me. And that is how I expect it to remain …

Good night dears and dearests .. with love ..

Amitabh Bachchan