City gets Big B in Super Sunday mood

KOLKATA: It was a nostalgic trip down memory lane for Amitabh Bachchan on Sunday as he spent long hours shooting on the streets of Kolkata, the city of his ‘first dreams’ and then dropped by at the house of his former boss and long-time friend who had recently passed away.
“It is difficult to put words within as you travel each day in the city of my first dreams...the city that gave me my first job, my first freedom, my independent living, my choice of work and associations and connects ... they remain lasting and long...” he had blogged on Saturday, the second time this week he has turned nostalgic doing so.
Perhaps it was his school and college senior by 10 years and former boss Bir Pratap Shrikent that he had in mind. Both were alumni of Sherwood College Boarding School and Kirori Mal College, Delhi. After graduating, Bachchan again met Shrikent in Kolkata firm Blacker & Co. Shrikent was the ship broking firm’s managing director and offered the lanky young man the job. Over the next three years that they worked together, a bond developed between the two that lasted a lifetime. And even beyond.
Around noon on Sunday, Bachchan, clad in a white flowing kurta draped with an embroidered shawl, drove into Shrikent’s Lee Road residence, conscious of the irony. Over the years, whenever he visited Kolkata, he tried to meet Shrikent. It wasn’t always possible given the usually busy schedule and plethora of commitments. But now that he was in the city for over a week and could make time for friends, Shrikent was no more.
“Amit was always welcome to our house. He and Jaya had come several times. Shrikent would always enjoy his company. Sadly, he is no more. Amitabh still drops by whenever he can and is even in touch over phone. This time, he called to say he would come and dropped by to spend some time,” said Shrikent's wife Bina.
During the 45-minute stay, they discussed the time spent together, of Bachchan’s movies ‘Black’ and ‘Paa’ that were among Shrikent’s favourites. Bachchan declined pastries that Bina’s daughter offered but had coffee and biscuits. As Bachchan gazed forlornly out of the tinted SUV window on his way back to the hotel, another paragraph from Saturday’s blog leapt to mind.
“I find it difficult too to relate with the many that pass through each day among the drives on the streets... those landmarked destinations now almost redundant and covered or shadowed by development... somehow that feel of the past removes itself ... it seems as though the past was perhaps another existence, another chapter of a past life ... but then ... just as age removes tell tale features on the human face with time, so does the city and its environs change with even greater time ... somehow those days were more enveloping and lasting... identifiable and loved... the face that remained in memory has been cast upon with opaque filters .. drawing away that which should have remained vivid, but regrettably not ...” he had blogged.
Bachchan, who has been cycling extensively around the city for the shoot of ‘Piku’, stuck closer to his hotel on Sunday, going around in circles. Starting in his by-now-familiar cycling ensemble of pink kurta, sleeveless navy blue jacket, sneakers and cap, he first circled Oberoi Grand via Humayun Place, Bertram Street and Chowringhee Place. It was like a dummy run. Now that he had warmed up, he pedaled down Chowringhee, turning into Sudder Street and then hit Park Street via Free School Street, passing the city’s firang para.
Director Shoojit Sircar captured Bachchan cycling against the backdrop of Kolkata’s stately landmarks Karnani Mansion, Park Mansion, Stephen Court and Queen’s Mansion.
Though the megastar and the cavalcade were escorted by Kolkata Police, the shots were nearly perfect as there was no crowding along the streets as photo journalists and fans were stationed at a popular snack store on SN Banerjee Road for a sequence to be shot.
Fifteen-year-old Manoj, who was headed for the Maidan for the usual football session, spotted a crowd of photographers around Mohun Bhandar opposite Regal Cinema and joined in, giving the coaching a skip. “I heard that Big B was supposed to arrive at 6am for a shoot at the kachori shop. Though it was past 7, seeing the crowd and so many cops, I knew he would come,” he reasoned.
Bachchan arrived at the stall a little later, parked the cycle along the railing and ordered kachori and lassi. The shop-keeper — an actor and not the real seller — handed him the kachori first that Bachchan munched on before guzzling down a glass of lassi. Sircar shot the sequence twice, once from across the street and the other from within the shop. The meal over, Bachchan picked up a packet of kachoris for home and walked the cycle away. “Cut!” called the director, concluding the day’s street shots.