Also starring Dhanush and debutant Akshara Haasan.
By Tathagata Mitra
BANGALORE: Amitabh Bachchan is perhaps the living definition of the word evergreen. Even after a career of 45 years, the 71-year-old legend of Bollywood is still standing strong. It has been just days since the first look of his first ever TV series premiered on the small screen and on online media. Simultaneously he has also released the title of his next ambitious project with director R. Balki: Shamitabh.
Bachchan had previously worked with Balki in Cheeni Kum and Paa. Both the films were critically and commercially successful. While Cheeni Kum saw Bachchan perform a 60-year-old romantic brilliantly, Paa reintroduced Amitabh Bachchan as a 12-year-old kid. The performance in Paa was one of the most novel efforts in the thespian art to be ever seen in Bollywood.
And now Bachchan is back again with Balki for Shamitabh. The film also stars National Award winning Dhanush, a popular actor in the Tamil film industry whose first step in Bollywood was with the hit Raanjhanaa. Also starring in the film is debutant Akshara Haasan, daughter of Kamal Hasaan. Akshara’s elder sister Shruti has already starred in some big budget Bolly films like Luck and D-Day.
The title of this film is very unique. R Balki commented proudly according to Shivani Mankerni, TNN, “We are happy to announce that the film is titled “Shamitabh”. As in SH before AMITABH.” According to a Mumbai Mirror report, ‘Shamitabh’ combines the last alphabets from Dhanush’s name with Bachchan’s name. Dhanush will be playing a deaf and mute junior artiste and Big B will give him his voice.
The film is creating a lot of buzz in the social media these days. First, the announcement of the film’s title garnered it a lot of attention. Bachchan was very keen about it in his twitter profile. And now, the film is in the limelight again ever since Bachchan was photographed in his new look in the film. Big B appears to have wisps of grey hair and beard and looked particularly shabby in the film.
According to Shivani Mankerni, TNN, Balki was heard saying, “Right now I’m enjoying watching the lethal combo of the intensity of Amitabh Bachchan, the intelligence of Dhanush and the innocence of Akshara in action daily. We are half way through the shoot of the film.”
The film is currently on floors and details are being kept a secret.