Unchai—a film about three friends on a mission to conquer Mount Everest—was brought to life before the vision of their upcoming feature, Suraj Barjatya Was on a tough campaign: Describing the film to Megastar Amitabh Bachchan,
The filmmaker recalled that he had given his 2003 play Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon to Bachchan and found that he listened to the film’s narration with a cold, blank face – which was extremely intimidating to him. For the height, where Bachchan works with actors Anupam Kheri And Boman Irani, Barjatya said that he was so nervous to meet the megastar that he took anxiety medicines to calm his nerves.
“I remember I met Sir (Bachchan) for the narration of Prem Ki Deewani Hoon and he hears ‘aplak’ (without blinking) and you can’t face the gaze, it’s not easy. When I wrote this script, I messaged him and he gave me time for a Zoom meeting.
At the trailer launch of the film, the filmmaker said, “I sat in the meeting with two anti-anxiety medicines because it is not easy to cope with sir.”
However, Barjatya soon realized while shooting with him that beyond Bachchan’s intimate aura, there was an actor who was eager to learn. “I realized that Sir is the easiest actor to work with. I enjoyed working with him on the sets but I enjoyed (his company) more in his vanity van.
Barjatya said, “Because he used to talk about life, poetry, filmmaking, he teaches us but on the sets he only listens and that is the biggest thing.”
At the event, Bachchan said that he cannot attend in person as he is not medically allowed to go out in public” when he contracted COVID twice. But the megastar revealed that one of the reasons why he appeared in the film was his son actor Abhishek Bacchan wanted to do it.
“It is true that Abhishek wanted me to do the film. When the son reaches or comes close to his father’s age, he begins to put on his shoes. And if your son asks you to do something, you agree,” said Big B.
Neena Gupta, Sarika in Height, written by Sunil Gandhi and Abhishek Dixit Parineeti Chopra, Nafisa Ali and Danny Denzongpa. Produced jointly by Rajshri Productions, Boundless Media and Mahaveer Jain Films, Height is slated to release on November 11.