You have several films coming up and all have you in roles that are a departure from the conventional route…
As a matter of fact, there are five films of mine coming up and because of the strike they are all bunched together. Ever since I reached this age, all the roles that I am getting have been quite varied. They haven’t totally been of the head of the family or of a senior don—there has been a variety. Like Bhoothnath was different, Paa is different, Aladin and Johnny Mastana are different, Rann is even more contemporary and Teen Patti in which I play a mathematics professor is a departure from any genre. So yes, I get the opportunity to play all these roles and it’s wonderful.

Aladin, like Bhoothnath, has been pitched as a children’s film -so have you made an impression on the younger viewers?
I was on a flight earlier this day on my way back from Goa and there were these kids who said that they loved me in Bhoothnath. Or sent slips that said “Hello, Bhoothnath uncle.” Somewhere there is this great impression that the film made. It was not meant to be a children’s film, but there was a much deeper message in there. About traditions that bind families together. So yes, it’s wonderful to be working in projects where morally or socially, something comes of it.

What are your observations on the larger-than-life cinema of the past and the more realistic cinema of today?
It’s wonderful to see this generation wanting to break away from given formats, if it can be called that, because we were all accused in the past with ‘Oh this is all very formatted cinema so there’s going to be a song, a tree, some running around and then there will be a lady and a villain and then you get rid of him.’ But thank god for this generation that the things have gone beyond, and how wonderful that I get an opportunity to work with them. This generation is very conscious of the fact that it must not be labelled by the escapades of the past. They are trying to do things differently not because they want to be different but because they feel very strongly about it. Whether it is on marriage, live-in relationships, the taboos of sex, the taboos of society or our morals, they are beginning to question all these. And for any society and country to develop, I think it is important to debate.

We sometimes tend to live by what has been decided or promulgated for us by our ancestors. Yes, we should live with our culture but the generation now is beginning to question these things that in our times we didn’t and I would never (do that) even now purely because of the respect with which we had to execute what we were asked to do. But that’s good because any kind of development, especially in a democratic set-up, will come about with debate. In a liberal, free society, it is important that debate takes place.

Has cinema moved from being escapist to the kind that can raise debate?
Maybe it was more escapist then, I think there is a sense of reality in today’s cinema.

There is a value attached to reality and they say face the facts, and if you face the facts, you still have a story. What we lived with earlier on in the ‘50s and ‘60s because there was great disparity in our social existence, the common man not being in a position to have access to some of those benefits that the upper class or the elite had. He needed those three hours of that little dark air- conditioned atmosphere, which he could never dream of,to come away from that street- hawker existence on the pavement and see these visions and visuals which put him in a different world for those hours! How wonderful for us to be able to do that.

But now I think that even in the reality that we show, we are trying to say that we must accept the fact that there is a classification because of differences in our status. A lot of this credit needs to go to the media, electronic media in particular. They have now entered almost every corner. If you go past any of the slums of the city, you will find that the terraces are covered with television antennae, so television has entered their homes with the many, many things happening around the world. What I find very interesting is that they are determined to follow or work for a dream and say, hey, if they can have it so can I. And there is a whole generation that is very aggressive, very positive, very determined and conscious that they have to do something for themselves.

When we were in college, the main emphasis was on education, and you had to do a BA, BSc or an MA, but it’s not so any more. There is such fragmentation of opportunities. It is wonderful that those barriers have lifted and so many people have become ambitious and they want to do a great many things that in the long run will benefit the country. A portion of the effect will fall on our creativity. You won’t find too much of that escapist cinema anymore. And the movies that you do would be rare and even those will have a certain genuineness.

Are reality shows such as Bigg Boss representative of the societal change that you speak of?
It’s more representative of the freedom of expression and it is wonderful. Maybe we lived in fear or suppression as we did for 200 years and for several years before that. And maybe our morals and liberties were dictated by a foreign power, but we have suddenly realised that we have a voice of our own and we need to exercise it provided the law of the land and the constitution are not digressed. So long as they keep within those limits, it’s great.

After a very successful run as the host of Kaun Banega Crorepati, why did you choose Bigg Boss for your second innings on television?
I find a desire to know what goes inside the mind of a person who is subjected to such harsh conditions—-finding yourself locked up for 84 days with cameras following you everywhere. Being in such close proximity to strangers, knowing their temperament, I think it’s fascinating. Which is why people want to watch it. You are unable to eavesdrop when you walk by on a street and you see a couple holding hands or being amorous with each other, but there may be a keen desire perhaps to know what they are saying to each other. Here we get an opportunity to see an aspect of the participant that we never would.

I like to meet the people and ask them questions like-why do you think you would do that? This gentleman Kamal R. Khan- I felt that the altercation that took place on the dining- table was over the word charity and I asked him if he had any kind of aversion to this word and he said that he had struggled his way up. “I am very ambitious. I come from a very small town - Roorkee - and I wanted to become an actor. After coming to Mumbai, I discovered within a few months that I was not material fit for an actor. For me, to now go back would have been extremely embarrassing. I don’t want to have the sympathy of people. If I would have gone back they would have sympathiwed with me or been rude and nasty to me. I want to do things on my own strength. I don’t like people to be charitable to me which are why I don’t like this word. I like to work on my own.”

No matter what may have happened, when he spoke about it he came across as very strong. I would respect him in the sense that he doesn’t want to live off other people’s charity, daan or dakshina. Here is an example that I found came out of something which was looked upon as something very negative.

Would you say that people behave differently when being observed? Is everything a charade being played out for the cameras following them?
We don’t know, and that really is the beauty of the game because we never know. This is something Ismail Darbar said very early on in the show. “I find myself doing things I have never done in my life. I cannot understand whether this is me or is this me playing for that prize money in the end.” The strangest thing is that we don’t know who’s playing a part or what his real character is. So it’s really a dilemma.

How much of themselves do actors expose in the roles they play?
I answered a question during the release of a book called Bachchanalia. I really don’t know when I put a hand to my chin if I know I am being photographed. Should I be conscious of how I speak, and what is actually mine…And should I remain myself? I really don’t know. When we act, we act according to the designated principles of the director. Yes, of course, there will be portions which will percolate, the way you laugh, or cry— these are things that trickle in. I gave that example about weeping for the loss of one’s mother… and not knowing when my mother actually passed away whether the emotions were real or were they something that had already been spent. That’s very tragic.