As the Bollywood drama film ‘Baghban’ marked 20 years of release earlier this month, the veteran star Amitabh Bachchan’s on-screen sons shared their experience of working in the title.
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For the unversed, ‘Baghban’ was about an elderly couple Raj [Amitabh Bachchan] and Pooja Malhotra [Hema Malini], who were made to live separately after 40 years of marriage, when they asked their four sons to support them after the former’s retirement.
Actors Aman Verma, Samir Soni, Saahil Chadha and Nasir Khan, who played their ‘nalayek bete (worthless sons)’ Ajay, Sanjay, Rohit and Karan respectively, recalled their experience of working in the film with the veterans as the title clocked 20 years of release earlier this month. The actors shared that they still get cursed by elderly people for the ill-treatment with their parents in the film.
Aman Verma, who had most of his scenes with Malini, said of his experience, “All my scenes were with Hema ji, and for me, she is somebody who we have grown up watching. She is the epitome of beauty and grace. And I had to shout at her, as most scenes were in that mode. After every scene, I would go and apologise to her. ‘Hema ji I am very sorry’. She knew it was my job and the nastier I was, it worked better for the film.”
Speaking about the film, he added, “It feels surreal that the film is still being talked about. Today, there are memes made and people still talk about it. Everyone keeps asking me ‘Aman ji, aap itni nalayak aulad kaise ho sakte the (How could you be so worthless)?'”
Actor Samir Soni, the second eldest son in the film, who did not have time to get his father’s glasses repaired, revealed, “I first said no to the film because I was not too convinced with the character.”
He continued, “But then Ravi (Chopra) Ji insisted that I do the film and I had the maximum scenes with Amitabh Bachchan. So I didn’t think about the good and bad (in my character), I focused on the shoot and the experience was like a dream, I shot extensively with Bachchan sir. I understood the great person he is apart from the great legend he is as an actor.”
“At that time we didn’t realise that we were a part of something so epic because we were just enjoying being in the company of these great actors,” Soni noted, adding that people would come up to him when the film released and would scold him for misbehaving with Bachchan.
With an anecdote, he also revealed that ‘more senior citizens bought insurance policies’ when the film was released back in 2003.
Chadha aka Rohit, the second youngest son, added with a laugh, “Aaj bhi gaali padti hai (I get cursed to date).”
He noted, “I do a lot of events, and on a few occasions, I have been introduced as Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘nalayak beta’, but I take it as a compliment.”
Nasir Khan, who too has gotten similar remarks over the years, mentioned, “Today, we have become parents, and I still get the same response, ‘tum sab kya bure bachche the (All of you were bad kids)’, and I tell them ‘bacche bure nahi hote toh picture acchhi nahi hoti na (If we wouldn’t have been bad kids, the film wouldn’t have been good)’.”
Written and produced by the late filmmaker B.R. Chopra and directed by his son Ravi Chopra, ‘Baghban’ was a major commercial success and received several nods and awards. It received mixed reviews from critics where Bachchan and Malini’s performances were praised, however, their chemistry and the film’s storyline were criticised.
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