The return of AB, the cop Amitabh Bachchan back as society's caretaker

Subhash K Jha

Is Amitabh Bachchan doing a film with Nagesh Kukunoor?

He is and he is not. Kukunoor, a diehard Bachchan fan, has been vocally keen to work with the actor. Says the Big B, "Yes, I'm doing a film with Nagesh Kukunoor. But we are still to meet to formalise the script and commerce (remuneration)." Apparently, Bachchan is slated to play a chef in Kukunoor's Tandoor.

While the Bachchan-Kukunoor project is still to get off the ground, almost certain is a film about the police force that will bring together the Big B and Govind Nihalani. The film will also star Om Puri in a stellar role. A longstanding admirer of Nihalani's craft, the Big B has been keen to work with Nihalani for a long time.

So far the director of such hardhitting films as Aakrosh and Ardh Satya had no vehicle to project Bachchan's towering personality.

Also doing the rounds is a rumour that Bachchan's son Abhishek jumped off a 70-feet high wall into a burning car below for a stunt in a film. Abhishek is nonplussed. "Now where did that come from? No such thing happened. True, Pa would check me out if he knew I was going to jump even from a chair. The trick is to not inform him when I'm doing stunts. What actually happened was, we were shooting for Rohit Shetty's Zameen on a street of Mumbai. I just had to jump from one vehicle roof to another, like all brave cops do in our films."

While Bachchan essays the cop's role for the umpteenth time in Govinda Nihalani and Rajkumar Santoshi's film, Abhishek plays a cop for the first time in Zameen. Bachchan's cop role in Zanjeer was the turning point in his career. Would the same happen to Abhishek after the similar sounding Zameen? "I don’t know. But I'm enjoying my first action film thoroughly," says Abhishek. "Ajay Devgan plays an army officer and I play a cop. I have wonderful stunts to perform. All my childhood fantasies of jumping, somersaulting, kicking and throwing punches which I used to see my father do are now coming true."

Incidentally, the director Rohit Shetty is the son of the 1970s' biggest stunt director Shetty.