A fine balance by Abhishek

what's worse? being amitabh bachchan's son or not having a single hit to his credit? abhishek bachchan makes a few candid confessions to suresh nair how significant is haan maine bhi pyaar kiya for you at this point in your career? oh, very significant. this whole project happened during a phase in my life when i was beginning to question my capabilities as an actor and wondering whether i was fit for this industry.and along came dharmesh darshan. he was like a godsend. does the fact that you haven't had a hit so far put a lot of pressure on you? i think it would put pressure on any actor. personally, i think it's high time i proved to the audience that i am capable and worthy of the love and affection they shower upon me. it's time i proved to them through a successful film and say thank you to them. are there lessons you learn during a lean phase? oh yes, lessons about career, life, acting... i will not go into cliches about i know who my friends are now, but i think the past year has taught me about myself. what i need to do, should do and can do. when you go through the so-called lean phase or unsuccessful films, you have to take stock of the situation and understand what's going wrong and try and stop it. hopefully, i have been able to do that. how bad is the pressure on you? first you had to step out of your dad's shadows and now you need to deliver a hit badly? but that's good to have the pressure on you. it brings out the best in you. i would be very scared if there wasn't any pressure. acting is something you learn day by day. now, two years and four films down the line, i am learning something new everyday. is there something you have learnt about your acting? i think i have become slightly more relaxed in front of the camera. i realised that my initial films there was a certain level of awkwardness in front of the camera. i am not saying i have eradicated that, but i have realised that as one of my flaws and tried to work on that. i have tried to be more comfortable before the camera. people often say that you make an awkward dancer. i have always been comfortable dancing. for me dancing could be just to go out in front of the camera and freak out. maybe some steps might not look good or i may look awkward doing them. but i enjoy dancing. what's delaying shararat? various things. it was ready for release in september. unfortunately, that's when the entire market crashed. and considering my current standing as well, i don't think the distributors found it a lucrative project at that point of time — for no fault of the film. let's be honest , the fact is my films were not doing well. how was it doing the car commercial with your dad? it was wonderful. the versa ad with dad was my screen-test. i think it helped me get comfortable, because i was nervous. but after the first shot, i realised i shouldn't do anything — just be with him. because he's such a great actor, just by doing his job, he automatically makes his co-star's level of acting come up. just by being in the same frame as him, i learnt a lot. apart from the fact that i am his son, as his fan, i was very nervous to stand in the frame with the mr bachchan. i understand you also did a walk-on part in kabhi khushi kabhie gham that was cut out of the film. what happened was, they were all shooting in london. and fortunately, one of my schedules got cancelled for three-four days. and my entire family was in london, and dad asked me to come down for a couple of days. so i flew down and they were shooting for kabhi khushi kabhie gham. one day i told karan to let me give a passing shot. he said , yeah, that's a good idea. so i did a passing shot (in the department store climax). but later karan, and even i told him, that it looks a bit stupid that it takes away from the importance of the scene. and how was it to work with your mom, with whom you acted in a bengali film recently? wonderful. as opposed to my father, i am far more relaxed in front of the camera with my mother. she was great fun to work with. it was just a guest appearance — for three four days. my mother took good care of me. what is great about her is that not only she coaches you in front of the camera, but behind it she pampers you. the minute they call cut, she is my mother again and serves me lunch. so it was wonderful. suresh.nair@timesgroup.com