On The Front Row this week, Anupama Chopra is hosting part 2 of the Actor’s Special on the craft of acting. On this episode, Farhan Akhtar gets to ask Amitabh Bachchan a question, and he chose to ask him about the famous God scene in Deewar – you know, the “Aaj khush toh bahut hoge tum” one. Big B was very nervous about doing this particular scene, and once done, had decided not to dub it. You can even hear the cameras in that scene. Farhan, therefore, asks him why he chose not to dub it. Here’s an excerpt from tonight’s episode where his question is answered.
Farhan Akhtar: May I ask you what was the reason for not dubbing that scene in Deewar when you go and speak to God?
Amitabh Bachchan: I just felt that the choked voice, I may not be able to re-create it again. It’s interesting that you ask that question because when Javed (Akhtar) saab and Salim (Khan) saab narrated the scene to me, I knew it was going to be a tough moment. The day came when it was supposed to be shot; we were shooting in Raj Kumar Studios and the set was put up. The temple set was put up twice, once in Chandivali for the outdoor and once indoor for the death scene and the God scene. In the morning, Yashji (Chopra), who used to have an office in Raj Kumar Studios, came in and said, “Chalo bhai, chalo chalna hai shooting ke liye.” I said, “Yashji, I am still not content with the fact on how I’ll be able to do the scene. So I am just taking a little time.” He said, “So whenever you are ready, I am sitting in my office. You tell me and we will go down and shoot.” So that was about 8 or 9 in the morning and at 10 o’clock in the night that I go up to him and say, “Okay, I think am ready to do it.” And the whole time I was wondering what I would do and how I would do it and I still don’t know if it’s been done to perfection. There are many scenes I don’t dub because I feel I will not be able to re-create it. I don’t know if it’s been captured correctly or not but I will not have the ability to recreate it.
Watch “The Front Row with Anupama Chopra” today at 8:30 pm on Star World for the second edition of The Front Row Dialogues – Actor’s Special featuring four of Hindi cinema’s brightest names- Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Farhan Akhtar on the craft of acting. For more details on the show log on to our website: wwww.thefrontrow.tv, follow us on twitter: @tfr2014 and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheFrontRowWithAnupamaChopra