Here are some interesting snippets of ‘The Last Lear’

Do you know Amitabh Bachchan actually penned a couple of dialogues for ‘The Last Lear’ which is also his first full-length English film as an actor?

Directed by the acclaimed filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh , The Last Lear is based on Utpal Dutt’s play ‘Aajker Shahjahan’. In the film Bachchan plays a failed, ageing, but uncompromising Shakespearean actor.

BIG B PENS DIALOGUES

Since ‘The Last Lear’ is a film within a film (the movie’s plot revolves around the making of a film whose director Arjun Rampal plays) there is a scene in which Preity and Prosenjit enact a tense dramatic scene in Hindi. Since Rituparno Ghosh’s Hindi is wishy-washy, he urged the Big B to write the dialogues for the scene. The superstar not just accepted the offer but took his job seriously. He sat aloof in a corner and wrote and rewrote the dialogues until he was satisfied with the final product.

RITUPARNO GHOSH, THE HITLER

Mr. Bachchan got along very well with Ghosh during the making of the film. The superstar was particularly impressed by the director’s vision and his quest for perfection. So much so that Big B jestingly gave Ghosh the nickname of ‘Hitler’ and threatened to go on a strike with other artists if Ghosh continued to be the authoritarian demander of finer performances from the film’s cast.

ARJUN, THE SHUTTERBUG

Rituparno Ghosh had shaved his head while shooting the film, and Arjun Rampal found the bald director to be a very good subject for practicing his hobby of photography. So, on the movie’s sets, Arjun would pop out of nowhere and click Ghosh from different angles. At first, Ghosh was conscious and even disapproving of Arjun’s unending penchant for photography. But when he saw the photographs that Arjun had taken, he was utterly impressed to see Arjun’s eye for framing and perspective. Ghosh says Arjun could one day make a good director.

THE SHOE THIEF

An interesting incident happened while Ghosh was shooting a scene for which Big B had to be barefoot. Since Ghosh likes to be physically interactive with his actors, he came forward and bent down to take off Big B’s shoes himself. At that point, Big B sprang from his seat. Ghosh protested: “Why, Amitda, what’s wrong if I do it?” To which Big B, apparently embarrassed by Ghosh’s gesture, replied: “No, you’ll steal my shoes.” Hearing this, the whole unit broke out into giggles.

By the way, ‘The Last Lear’ also happens to the first film in which Mr. Bachchan plays an actor working in a film within a film. The movie has Preity Zinta in a traditional Bengali makeover with sarees, long hair and big bindis.