, Ali Peter John
I was passing Pratiksha, Mr Bachchan, the first bungalow you built (was it rebuilt?) This was a place where I saw history take shape. It was a place from where you went from a struggling actor to a flop actor to a star and a superstar and finally the star of the millennium. It was a place where your parents, Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Mrs. Teji Bachchan ruled and you were ruled.
This was the place where you had the grandest Holi and Diwali festivals. This was the place where you meet Mulayam Singh Yadav, H.D. There were a host of politicians like Deve Gowda and other big politicians on the chess board of politics. It was the place where your children Shweta and Abhishek were born and grew up. This was the place where you returned after spending many scary days in Breach Candy Hospital. This was the place where you got the idea of setting up ABCL and also the place where you saw ABCL falling like a pack of cards. This was the place where you fought a film called “Mohabbatein” and also with KBC, a show that created history in the world of television.
This was also the place where you had your small office where there were loyal secretaries like Sheetal Jain, Khare and Gangadaran. This was where your right hand was Praveen Jain who knew all your moods and moves and made you comfortable in all situations and situations. And how can I forget Wilfred Vaz, once the man of the Indian Air Force, who was in control of Pratiksha and the complete security of his men and whom Dr. Harivanshrai Bachchan called Pratiksha’s “estate manager” and worked in all those whites. who had worked in it. In the various departments created in the kitchen and waiting.
But, as they say times have changed. You took charge of a bungalow called “Bindiya”, which was the bungalow of producer NC Sippy, who lived there with his sons Romu and Raj Sippy. It was said that you were bringing a bungalow for your brother Ajitabh, who played a very important role in the early phase of your career. But, gradually you came up with the spacious and luxurious bungalow named “Jalsa”, which is now one of the most famous addresses in India and also in the countries where you are known.
And now the wait seems like a part of history. I hear you drive from Jalsa to Pratiksha every night and spend the night waiting and the next morning return to your Jalsa home from where you go to shoot or dub or go to your luxurious office in “Janak”.
Waiting for you was a Wilfred Vaz. Now you have a whole team of security men and black cats and other kinds of bodyguards. You had ordinary men like Sheetal, Khare and Gangadaran, now you have Rosie Singh, Barbara and another team of secretaries and a whole staff consisting only of Adesh, Subhash and Santosh Saroj, in the team called Script Study. work. Your family lives with you, but I have heard that Abhishek and his family are moving to their house. There was a huge crowd waiting to have a glimpse of you. Crowds swell outside Jalsa, but the excitement is not the same, especially around the bungalow and with all the loyal bodyguards and security guards accompanying you. No, Mr Bachchan, magic is not the same now and will not be again, I guess as a person who has seen magic waiting a hundred times.
When I walked through Pratiksha in the morning and saw that small office and the temple inside Pratiksha, nostalgia gripped me and I remembered the evening when I met you at 5:30 pm and waited from Nariman Point Ran outside the gate with an umbrella that’s over you, only to wait. You were waiting for me in the heavy rain and how did you welcome me! How can I forget how you took me under your umbrella and made me wait and asked for a big towel to dry myself
And asked his kitchen staff to make me some hot snacks and a hot cup of coffee. And when I was completely comfortable, you started talking to me about the Bofors cannon brawl and our talk went on for more than two hours and when I didn’t take any notes or carry a tape recorder, you asked me There was the same question, “How do you remember everything I told you when it came to money and especially numbers and figures?” I had no answer to your FAQ, which you did at that event. asked where you presented me. My first award in the name of KA Abbas who is your mentor and my mentor.
P.S. Next time you enter the waiting door, please look very carefully at the solitary white plastic chair that has been placed for the security personnel, one of whom told me a few months ago to stand near the wait and take a picture. and very critically informed me that “Aaj Kal Amitabh Bachchan does not live here”. What a twist in luck sometimes!
