Angad Bedi, who grew up playing the gentleman’s game and watching Amitabh Bachchan’s flicks in spare time, secretly admired the star with the way he came out powerful in each film; his histrionics and dialogues remained etched in his mind.
While his dream of becoming an actor was realised five years ago with the forgetful F.A.L.T.U, his ambition of sharing the big screen with Big B, has now borne fruit as he is appearing in Pink .
Shedding light on his character, Rajbir Singh, Angad says: “He is caught in a tricky situation. The filmmaker wanted to show an honest man can make a mistake. He could see lightness in my eyes and sense honesty in spirit. It is not a thriller with a baddie but one dealing with real people.”
Noting that Rajbir comes from a conservative background, Angad says, “An alumnus of the London School of Economics, he still has patriarchal mindset. He is a boy who has seen women in his house serve men and hangs out with his circle of friends. An incident occurs one night which snowballs into a court case. But this is not a preachy film. The social thriller has been made in an entertaining way. The film exposes society’s hypocrisy.”
Angad feels he was destined to act opposite Amitabh Bachchan. “From his mother’s side Amitabhji shares Sodhi lineage, while I share the Bedi lineage. So we are descendants of Guru Nanak. And, both of us are left handers. To make me feel comfortable, he took me for dinner at Jalsa. Abhishek spoke about kabbadi and Shweta asked me about my college days. A complete newcomer like me was given respect by technically the fist family of film industry.”
Similarly on the sets, Amitabh Bachchan went out of his way to rehearse lines with Angad. “It was very difficult to act opposite him but Mr. Bachhcan told Shoojit (co-producer) that he would practise the court room scene for four hours without the camera. Shoojit held my hand and told me to forget that I am facing Mr. Bachchan. But it is not that simple; you cannot do that. Whether he is for me or against me can only be revealed when you watch the film, but the second half is full of court room drama.”
On similarities between him and on-screen character, Angad says there exists none. “I come from a sporting background. While growing up in Delhi I would get up at 4 a.m. to practice. I lived a hard life whereas Rajbir Singh grew up in luxury.
So I attended workshops to make me live and breathe this character. I read a book on power in order to understand how the powerful think and work. I am a happy-go-lucky person but this character is quiet.”
Explaining how the film has relevance with today’s women, Angad says he grew up respecting his mother and sister as his father Bishan Singh Bedi taught him the value of egalitarianism. “I am proud with the way our actresses have carved a niche for themselves. In sports, our women have excelled in the Olympics. We have a silver and bronze all due to hard work of our women. ladkon nein hume kya dilaya?”
So the film emphasises the relevance of women power? “We are breaking patriarchal myth. This brings me to Bachchanji’s letter to his granddaughters in which he told them to forget that they are a Bachchan or a Nanda. Initially, I being Bedi’s son also had to worry.
I cut my hair and did things which must have upset my father. But I wanted to come out of his shadows. I left cricket.”
Angad, a former model, does not like to look back. “I am grateful to JJ Valaya for giving me a break in the modelling world. I wanted to face the camera but was never a good model. There were better guys than me.”
