"I was in the washroom when Mr Bachchan called" #amitabhbachchan #amitabhbacchan #amitabhrekha

I remember I had messaged him and he called me back and I was actually in the washroom. I still, I used to remember his number. Okay, fine, you can actually love somebody, fair enough, but how can you move on at the drop of a hat? Yeah, I mean, I don't understand.

I can identify with what Rekha has been feeling because when you do not get the person you want, then you want to show that person, see, I can move on without you. Thank you guys for tuning into my channel. Welcome to Frontline and Chai. Today we'll talk to Digonto. You know Digonto, right? We've been introduced before. Hi. And he's from Kolkata, and I am in Canada right now. And today we will talk to Digonto about Amitabh Bachchan. Yes, the Mr. Big B. So we will talk about how he thought, how he thought Digonto had lost his job because of an interview that he gave it to him. And he posted this on Tumblr. He mentioned Digonto and posted this on Tumblr. Yes, guys, this is true. And Digonto is going to tell us all about it, all about his tryst with Amitabh Bachchan. And to think that I worked with Digonto, we were sitting on the opposite aisle, and I did not know all this was happening. He was doing a story on Amitabh, he was meeting Amitabh Bachchan, who I am a great fan of. I mean, I still cannot believe that this had happened right behind me all this while, while we were working in HD. That is uncanny. So, Diganta, just I'm going to shoot start whatever. Well, you had this incredible experience with Mr. Bachchan. Please tell us about it.

Right at the very outset, I would like to express my heartiest gratitude to Mr. Bachchan because, you know, all throughout my stint with one of the largest circulated English dailies in the country. Whenever I approached him for an interview, whenever I requested him for an interview, he was all game. He never let me down, and I would come to that later on. But so far as this episode is concerned, it actually made me a, you know, national sensation, honestly speaking. I was getting messages from people all over the country, and somebody in fact She was a colleague and she bumped into me on the roadside and she said, oh my God, you are a celeb now and I'm really proud of the fact that I got to work with you. But, uh, I mean, those were like, uh, pleasant, uh, you know, I mean, compliments coming my way. But what I really had to go through, that was quite painful. Well, it happened, uh, in the year 2008. I had already resigned and I just wanted my last interview for that organization to be of Mr. Bachchan. So I sent him a message. In fact, his film last year was on the verge of release, The Last Year, which was shot in Kolkata, directed by Rituparno Ghosh. And so I messaged him and he said, fine, send me the questions, because he preferred email, you know, interviews for whatever the reason may be. So, and there are lots of things happening around Mr. Bachchan question marks were raised on, you know, his family. His family was kind of dragged into certain controversies. So I wanted that interview to be a hard-hitting one. So I shot questions and I was very direct. I was very sort of frank and candid, and I just— the questions came from the core of my heart. So he gave me the interview. I mean, like, he sent me the answers and the interview was carried. I remember it was in the feature section. It was not a lead, it was, I think, an anchor, you know, whatever. Not a lead. So no, it was not a lead for whatever the reason. So what happened was the interview came out, and I remember I was chatting with a couple of friends at the Kolkata Press Club, and I sent him a message saying that the interview has come out, I've resigned, and I wanted this interview to be the last one. So he sent me, you know, he replied immediately. He asked me whether I had resigned or not. I said, yes, I have resigned. Oh, you've resigned? Fine. Okay. And then all hell kind of broke loose because the next day I saw my name flashed all over his blog. And the story was that he thought that I had to resign because he had taken potshots at the media. And before sending me the answers, He was, I think, in South Africa. Yeah, I think he was in South Africa. He was touring. So before sending me the answers, he consulted, you know, his family and also this music director Vishal Dadlani. And Vishal, after going through it, also said that Indian Adil Ghar. Right, Vishal Dadlani of Vishal Shekhar fame. So Vishal, after— right, Vishal, after going through the— going through his answers, categorically told him, I can bet on this, that he's going to lose his job after this. So he thought that I'd lost my job because of that, you know, interview. But that was not the case. That was not the case because I was in notice period and my colleagues, you know, who were working with me at that point of time would definitely second it. So as I said, you know, I've always had a very special equation with Mr. Bachchan. He's always preferred me.

So if I must ask you over here, what was the interview about and what was the controversy that he was going through at that time?

Well, the interview was basically about the film The Last Lear, but I also asked him some questions regarding his, uh, you know, I mean, what should I say, acrimonious stance towards the media, because, you know, he was not having a great relationship with the media at that point of time for various reasons. And I must tell you that, uh, uh, I think not this particular interview, but there's one more interview which, which I did, and it was carried in Calcutta, but it was also carried in Mumbai. And what happened was that my interview was totally tweaked in Mumbai by the editor who had an axe to grind with Mr. Bachchan, probably. I don't want to name him, but whatever. So that interview came out, and in fact, I was so busy that I had no clue that that interview had come out in Mumbai, in the Mumbai edition. All of a sudden, he sent me a message, Mr. Bachchan, and he told me that I didn't expect this kind of a treatment from you. I have always favored you and stuff. I sent him the interview that, you know, we carried. I also sent him the answers. I wrote a mail to him and I said, sir, you're actually misunderstanding me because if you know, you know how copies are tweaked. But if copies are tweaked too much, you cannot tweak a person's— Exactly. The copy was tweaked. If the copy was tweaked immensely and there was a personal vendetta, I guess. I don't want to get into that, but I was kind of victimized. I was made the scapegoat and he stopped talking to me for about 6-7 months and I thought my career was over because Amitabh Bachchan stopped talking to him.

Okay, so we are over there, we are there, we're there.

Right, right. So I mean, he was my— what should I say— he was my savior on so many occasions. In fact, there were occasions when I was running short of stories, I even called him up for quotes for a particular story, and he never let me down. In fact, I remember Bunkier Bubbly had released at that point of time, and Abhishek was sort of going gaga. He was all over the media, his work was being praised, and, you know, I mean, stardom had sort of kissed his feet. And I wanted some— I wanted Mr. Bachchan's reaction to Abhishek's emergence, you know, burst on the scene, honestly speaking. I remember I had messaged him and he called me back, and I looked, that conversation on the blog was kind of all over, and some people even went to that extent of saying that he's bigger than the brand. So it really sort of affected my career to a large extent. But Kaberi, a very senior journalist, a film journalist, he had come down to Kolkata and I met him and he said, of course I know you, I know you because of Mr. Bachchan's blog. So I was kind of— so I don't want to beat my own drums because—

No, no, please do, please do. I mean, this is the kind of drum you have to beat. Did you ever, ever ask him about his so-called relationships with the diva Rekha or other such gossips that we keep hearing about?

In fact, I asked her about Rekha once, you know, indirectly, but he was pretty, what should I say, dignified in his answer. And obviously, yeah, I didn't because I knew that if I had asked that Probably things would have ended then and there.

So what else do you remember interviewing with him? Can you tell us any more anecdotes, any more episodes that you remember? Because yeah, of course.

Yeah, of course, of course. In fact, when he was shooting for the last year in Kolkata, I was determined to be the first.

Exactly.

Last year, I was I was quite determined to be the first one to interview him.

Is that the one with Ritu Ponnugosh? Director.

Yeah, right. I was very emotional, you know, around Mr. Bachchan, honestly speaking. And I remember I was on my way to the office, but in the midway I had to drop my father. And it was at the Ruby, you know, Four Corners, where I got a message from him saying that I should contact his valet, I think Mr. Jain, yeah, and he would fix up the interview. And he did, he did. And I was the first one to, you know, get the slot. I remember I was speaking to him and at the moment I entered, I touched his feet. He said, you're embarrassing me. And I spoke to him at length.

He doesn't like anybody touching his feet, I think.

I know, but I must tell you, Mr. Bachchan is very implicit at times when it comes to expressing his emotions. But I could actually make out that he had developed a fondness for me. And I remember while I was— because those days, you know, we had this, those, you know, I mean, like antique pieces, or those are antique mobile pieces now. Mobiles.

Yeah, those mobile days.

Right. So while I— and I was never very tech savvy, in fact, still I'm not, you know it very well. So what I did was, as I was interviewing him, you know, somebody was calling me trying to find out whether I was talking him or not. And I remember I was constantly— I had to sort of pause the recording. And I remember while he was talking, his sound was not very audible. So I was at his feet, literally. He said, why don't you just sit properly? I said, I can't help it because, you know, I am in front of Mr. Bachchan. Kabiri, honestly speaking, we all have grown up watching his films. Yeah, and, uh, I mean, and his humility, honestly speaking, his humility is, what should I say, indomitable.

So you mean to say his humility is not put on? His humility is real?

Absolutely. He's very humble, and he's always the first one to enter the set. Whenever I, uh, tried to sort of converse in Bengali, he said, I'm not very comfortable. But, uh, I mean, we all know that he's very fluent in Bengali. Since I remember that experience, I remember when I took that picture, which is now part of the folklore. I mean, I still have that picture. I hold him in very high esteem. Well, I can just walk down my funeral pyre boasting about the fact that, yes, Mr. Bachchan used to call me. But those are, again, things of the past. I'm just probably lost in the crowd for whatever the reason may be. But I really hope and pray that at least before I breathe my last, I can interview him. one more time, probably for the last time. Because see, I'll tell you something, Mr. Bachchan is a goldmine of stories, and you have to talk to him, uh, not as a journalist. You have to talk to him as just the other person.

I know, I know, it sounds— it becomes such a dream, like you've been in a dream. It seems like, did I ever do that? It so happens. But his— you said in your podcast also with your sister-in-law that his He's not happy in his family life. And also, I think I read somewhere that he doesn't have any friends really to call his own. So about his personal life, do you think he'll ever speak out about his personal life, about his family life?

I don't think so. A, he will never write his autobiography. B, he will never direct a film. And C, he will never come out in the open about his personal life. See, whether he's not happy or not, it's difficult to say. But, you know, there's no smoke without fire, and there is obviously a lot of truth to the fact that there was something or the other— what should I say— brewing up between Mr. Bachchan and Rekha ji. In fact, Rekha ji had admitted in one of her interviews—

So fascinated as you were, did you in the process fall in love with him? Absolutely, duh! That's a dumb question. I have yet to come across as single man, woman, child who can't help but fall completely, passionately, insanely, desperately, especially hopelessly in love with him. So why should I be singled out?

And even Mr. Bachchan had relationships with Parveen Babi and others.

But these are all stories that floated around. In fact, see, there are sides to it. There is one section which is anti-Mr. Bachchan, and these people would actually go the whole hog to cast aspersions on him. And there is another section which is totally pro-Bachchan. And but, uh, so far as Mr. Bachchan is concerned, you know, he's beyond all this, I guess. Those are quite—

But I am stunned to see how much he writes every day, his blog on Tumblr.

He tweets, he tweets on his own.

He tweets on his own also, and he doesn't touch anything about his personal life. He's just about his, the, his fans and his work, and that's about it. Go like politics, he doesn't even touch the Bollywood politics that is surrounding him, that I feel that he hadn't, he doesn't touch all that. I mean, he's, he's 80, what, how much, 81 or 82?

He's going to be, uh, he's '42 born, probably.

He's going to be 81 this year.

Yeah, he's already, his 80th birthday last year.

80th birthday was last year.

I'll tell you something, can take criticism, honestly speaking. But yes, there was a time when I was pretty upset with even Nasiruddin Shah. I mean, Nasiruddin Shah in one interview had said that Chole was not a great film. Of course, Amitabh Bachchan is a great actor, but he would not be remembered like Dilip Kumar. Well, honestly speaking, I might be again, you know, sort of killed after what I'm going to say. Dilip Kumar definitely was a great, great actor, but so far as versatility goes, Mr. Bachchan stands out. He's what, 80, 81? Still, he's one of the busiest actors around.

This is actually humble, and he's still so humble. This is actually a test, and you are confirming that the humility is real, not like he does. No, no, no, no, pretend to be humble.

He's not pretentious. And you know, the fact that he's still a force to reckon with when all his contemporaries are either dead or, you know, I mean, lost in oblivion, it is just a testament to his stardom and his hunger for work. Scripts are conceived of Keeping him in mind.

Even now, he's still working. He's still running. Like he runs into the ABC set. So Mr. Bachchan is never going to come into politics, right? He'd been there. He's burnt his fingers, and he's back. He's not going to ever step into politics. He has made that very clear in the last discussion. I heard a discussion with Frankly Speaking. So why do you think that? You've been very close to Mr. Bachchan. Why do you think he doesn't want to get into politics or even comment on the so-called Bollywood politics that is going around him?

See, there are two things which Amitabh Bachchan is always going to avoid. One is politics and the other is direction. So far as politics is concerned, though I have never had a candid conversation with him on this, but from whatever I could make out, he was pretty hurt, pushed into the— by his friend, Rajiv Gandhi.

Rajiv Gandhi.

Rajiv Gandhi. And he became an MP, and he got a resounding mandate at, you know, in Allahabad. He got the better of, you know, H.N. Bahuguna. So just imagine, I mean, he was a political stalwart, but Mr. Bachchan sort of made him eat humble pie. But after that, you know, all those Bhopal controversies and, you know, it all, that really bothered him. He conceals his political allegiance. So what Mr. Bachchan is concerned, we all know that he was very close to the Gandhi family. So obviously there was, you know, there has been a Congress connection, but he makes it pretty clear that it's not about political parties, it's about the chair. So if Narendra Modi invites him to Gujarat, he will go there. If Mamata Banerjee invites him to KIFF, he comes over here. So he matured beyond all this, honestly. speech. He enjoys, you know, a status which is never going to be sort of emulated. It's very tough to actually achieve what he has achieved.

I mean, so shall we wrap up this conversation by, uh, by wanting to know if he's going to ever feature into— in the— in a Prime show or a Netflix series?

I have no idea. There's no news around that. But, uh, probably, you know, I mean, going by Mr. Bachchan's, as I said, proclivity towards, uh, experimentation, he could actually feature. He could actually feature in the days to come.

That will be really exciting to watch out for. And we are proud to have Mr. Bachchan in our— still working. He's a shining gem. For example, in Bollywood, I mean, still he's beating all the newcomers. I'm definite. And he's still a— since I remember his Coolie incident, like when he was almost on his deathbed, And the entire country prayed for him. And from that to his multiple link-ups with his actresses, and there is no smoke without fire, like you had said. I feel that Mr. Bachchan should at least clarify some of the cloud and admit some of the things that he thinks is right. And in some— in one interview, he should. This should be, uh, it should be a complete clarification of all that, uh, you know, people talk about him. That should be there, that should come up, and I think you should come up. So do you think you should, you can do that kind of an interview with him?

I would love to, but knowing Mr. Bachchan and knowing his inclination towards maintaining his privacy, I wonder whether he's going to give such an interview.

So Mr. Bachchan has actually maintained his dignified silence in a lot of things, in spite of being at the, at the receiving end of the media, of the—

he's been at the receiving end, he's been—

he's always been at the receiving end. So in spite of the fact, despite the fact that I want to be as critical as possible about Mr. Bachchan, about his multiple affairs, about his relationship with Parveen Babi and the And the gossips that go around along with it, which I still think that he is really above all of this and he's really above all these petty things and we must just leave him, let him be, let him just do his work.

That's what I'm saying because his work really speaks for himself. What should I say? I mean, let's have a film which will have a mix of everything. I don't know, I don't know. I mean, I would love to see Mr. Bachchan and Rekha, you know, because And I'm sure, you know, the best person to direct this film would be Aditya Chopra. In fact, there were stories at one point of time that—

Absolutely, Manik Jor. Let's give them the idea.

But he was asked this question once, whether he would be happy to share screen space with Rekha again. He said if the script is fine, I'm game.

What's stopping them? Because that's going to be a gold mine. It's going to be a gold mine.

I may be able to give you breaking news.

Yeah, please.

Let's see, let's see. Let me just tap my sources. Let me just get an authentic news. If I ever get that, uh, news, obviously I'll be the first one. You'll be the first.

Go ahead, don't lose your touch with Bollywood and keep giving us breaking news because eventually at the end of the day Bollywood matters. And right, I'm not Bollywood, Hindi film industry is the biggest.

I think showbiz matters, showbiz matters.

And most of importantly, we love to see Amitabh and Rekha together once again, and they should be together to dispel all the myths surrounding them. Even if they were in love at one point, which I don't think it's absolutely incorrigible to think about it, they could have been in love at one time. And like, I believe that's why I say you can be— yeah, you can be in love.

It's not a cardinal sin.

It's not a cardinal sin, or it's So he should not also think to be to be a cardinal since neither should Rekha. In fact, Rekha has openly admitted that he loves she loves him in rendezvous.

That's what we discussed.

Yeah. So there's no there's no harm in admitting that he loved Rekha at one point, and I don't think Jab Mr. Jabachan has already been hurt enough in her life. And I don't think she's going to find it anymore. She's going to be happy with the truth probably coming out finally, you know, like okay, it's okay to love somebody else also. It's okay.

Rekha really loved Mr. Bachchan. Rekha has had multiple affairs here. I mean, I don't understand. Maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned.

No, actually, my ideas are being a woman. Being a woman, I can identify with what Rekha has been feeling. Because when you get, do not get what the person you want, then you want to show that person. See, I can move on without you.

But then you are, then you are, then Kaveri, you are actually using or rather exploiting the new person in your life. If you really want to show somebody, it's not a conscious decision.

It's not a conscious decision. It's a, it's something you want to do. You want to move on, but Obviously your soul, we are not always in touch with what our soul wants, right? We want to prove to some, do things to prove something to the others. That also happens, it's a part of humanity. Humanity, human emotions are multi-layered. I feel Rekha, what she did was trying to move on, but in the process she realized she couldn't, and she didn't even feel an ounce of feeling for that guy. What's his name who died?

Mukesh Agarwal.

Mukesh Agarwal. I didn't think— I don't think she felt an ounce of feeling for Mukesh Agarwal the way she felt for Amitabh Bachchan.

I really don't know, but, uh, I don't know.

She just wanted to move on, to show him that I can move on and I'm happy in my life.

I mean, let's not—

as a woman, I can understand Rekha. I can understand her, and I can understand the kind of The tsunami of emotions that she feels for Amitabh. But I generally feel this triangle has always been a triangle, and I feel that because of society, if Amitabh has been with his wife and now they don't have a relationship, I think that is more of, you know, if he had, then it would have been better if he had married Rekha and accepted the whole thing. And, uh, Dharmendra did. Dharmendra had 2 marriages. Dharmendra did not divorce his first wife, but he married Hema.

No, he wanted to divorce his first wife. He wanted to divorce his first wife, but Hema sort of put her foot down and said, no, you're not going to divorce.

Yeah, so if Amitabh had, uh, kind of not left, uh, left Jaya and moved on and maintained 2 families We wouldn't have respected him any less. It would have been a much more sorted matter in Amitabh's life. I think he would have—

Kabiri, I know. I don't know Kabiri. I never thought on those lines. But you know, I mean, see, I mean, obviously, I mean, these are all things of the past and it's very difficult to actually—

Past cannot be forgotten. Past will always haunt you to the last day of your life.

If he ever seriously loved Rekha ji, and obviously he couldn't sort of, you know, get into a relationship or even marry her because of her— because of his marital status and whatever, that's really painful for that person, isn't it? And if we keep on— he's very reserved, he's very reticent at times.

Yeah. So maybe, you know, like, if he had come to terms with the Past, and if he had, if he breaks open the past and breaks up his opens his shell, he will he will be a happy person. And even after he's gone, his soul is going to be a happier person. You cannot move on in life. So he has to have closure about this.

True true love never has a pragmatic end.

Yeah. So let's let's let's really souls move on to the next life and you know.

True love, true love never has a—

they find each other in next life and all stuff.

You just got— I don't know, but you've got to live it anyway.

Now finish up the podcast, and I hope the viewers enjoyed this podcast with Digonto. And I hope Mr. Bachchan is watching this and Rekha is watching this. I will be really, really happy. I wish all of you a very, very happy life, and. We do wish to see Mr. Bachchan and Rekha in coming together in a film or a television series, something like that, and something which is going to be really a bombshell in the industry. Thank you, Digonto, for being here with me, with us in the podcast, and for giving us so much information, inside story of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. Really, I hope you hook up an information with him again, and if you get some— something new, please share with us. Thank you for watching, guys. Bye-bye. You're welcome.