A leaked email may pose the question of the century.
Did the Democratic nominee for president Hillary Clinton have a romantic crush on Amitabh Bachchan?
Most probably not, but the fans of Bachchan, and even the die-hard romantics out there might think long and hard about it, and come to a conclusion with a sigh that ‘Yes, of course’.
Of course, that’s all a matter of conjecture.
The reason for the question to pop up at all with less than four days left for the presidential election, that whether the former Secretary of State had any ‘feelings’ at all for that once-upon-a-time macho man now turned gentleman-grandpa thespian of Bollywood, is because of a rather strange email that has popped up from the past.
Clinton, had in July, 2001, according to a leaked email courtesy of WikiLeaks, once asked her then close confidante and the now beleaguered Democratic Party worker Huma Abedin about Bachchan Sr.
Jose A DelReal, national political reporter with The Washington Post, posted a picture on Twitter of the leaked Clinton email.
“What’s the name of the famous older Indian actor we met a few years ago?” Clinton poses to Abedin.
“Amitabh bachan (sic)”, Abedin responded.
The leaked email does not give further details as to why and in what context was Clinton asking about Bachchan, who is now all of 74 years old and still going strong in Bollywood.
Of course, it must be remembered that Clinton has made several trips to India during her time as First Lady, accompanying president Bill Clinton, and later during her time as Secretary of State. She has not only met the political establishment in India, but also the crème de la crème of Indian society. Needless to say, she must have met Bachchan Sr. on more than one occasion at social gatherings.
While it’s best left to conjecture as to why Clinton suddenly remembered Amitabh Bachchan, one is surely disappointed that the Indian-Pakistani origin Abedin doesn’t know her Bollywood too well, having misspelt the ageing actor’s name.