Amitabh Bachchan to play himself in a PNC film, The Actor, to be directed by Pritish Nandy’s son, 'Kushan Nandy'

Amitabh Bachchan to play himself in a PNC film, The Actor, to be directed by Pritish Nandy’s son, 'Kushan Nandy'

Subhash K Jha

Amitabh Bachchan

Before Amitabh Bachchan was hospitalised, he had committed to do a film with Pritish Nandy Communications.

The film called The Actor will be directed by Pritish Nandy’s son, Kushan and will have Mr Bachchan essaying the role of a superstar named Ashmit Bhargava.

Confirming the news just before his hospitalisation, Amitabh had said, “Yes, I am doing a film for Pritish Nandy. You can get the details from him.”

When contacted, Pritish Nandy said, “Getting the principal part right was imperative for the film.Going by the way Kushan has etched out the character, I don’t think anyone other than Mr Bachchan can play Ashmit Bhargava.

The protagonist has to be a super-icon who is about 55-60 years old and is playing the biggest role of his life.”

Incidentally, there were rumours of a rift between Pritish Nandy and Mr Bachchan during the film Kaante, when Pritish was the presenter and Mr Bachchan one of the lead actors. But everything seems hunky-dory now.

Talking about the supposed rift, Pritish said, “I would not like to go into the past, or comment on our relationship, but Amitabh and I go back a long way.

I knew him long before the troublemakers were born. It was just a matter of the right vehicle for this amazing actor. When my son came up with The Actor I knew this was it. I immediately approached Amitabh and he agreed. We start shooting by the end of the year.”

Pritish Nandy

So are the identical initials of the ‘The Actor’ and the actor playing the role more than a mere coincidence? “I think so,” laughs Pritish. “I think the initials for ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ and ‘Ashmit Bhargava’ say it all.”

Apparently, The Actor incorporates many incidents from Mr Bachchan’s life, making it his most autobiographical film to date. Adds Kushan Nandy, “Yes, I wrote The Actor for Mr Bachchan, along with two writer-friends Kiran Shyam Shroff and Ghalib Asad.”

The rest of the cast is being finalised.

via:mumbainews