Whistling Woods International (WWI) featured my experiences with megastar Amitabh Bachchan in their newsletter called Stamp. While everyone else got half or one-page articles, two pages were devoted to mine. Feels nice... kinda leaving a king size stamp on time, eh! ;-) Gee! Thanx WWI, Priyanka Pai, Alison Dcruz, Aditya Mandre, Karn Gupta, Saili Kocharekar, Niviya Augustine, Pooja Doke, Jaison Chacko, Sumedha KS & Team.
BELOW: REPRODUCING THE ARTICLE VERBATIM FOR YOUR EASY READING... ALL GREEN LIGHTS, CHEERS...
The power of persuasion
(Applied on Amitabh
Bachchan)
In the words of Bollywood’s only PR guru Dale Bhagwagar
Today, I am a leading publicist in Bollywood. But I was less
than 25 and just out of college, when I first spoke to Amitabh Bachchan in
1995.
Back then, with great encouragement and support from my
mentor grandpa, I had come down from my relatively quiet hometown, Nagpur , to the concrete jungle of Mumbai (then Bombay ) as a journalist,
and joined the Bollywood magazine Cine Blitz magazine as Chief Sub-Editor and
Reporter, just a day before this incident.
Amitabh Bachchan was my screen idol and I’d grown up
watching his films like Satte Pe Satta, Aakhree Raasta, Naseeb, Amar Akbar
Anthony, Agneepath and my favourite Main Azaad Hoon; the one which dealt with
the media.
It was my second day in office, when one of my seniors told
me about an ABCL (Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited) Press Conference to
take place same afternoon, for announcing a corporate tie-up of the company.
Since Cine Blitz is a gossip magazine and there is not much
that corporate Press Conferences contribute to gossip, the interest levels
amongst staffers to cover it were low. Moreover, they expected the CEO of ABCL
to address it, and not the mega star himself. “Big B will not be there, but you
can go and cover it anyway,” they told me almost sarcastically, while I
enthusiastically jumped at the opportunity.
Of course, being new in Mumbai and just having joined the
office a day ago, I wanted to take all the chances and explore every
opportunity life threw towards me. Bachchan was too big a one to miss; in fact,
the biggest, especially for a teen just out of college.
Happily and in hope, I reached the hotel where the event was
to be conducted. Soon, it was announced, “Mr Bachchan is held up in traffic and
would be about 25 minutes late.” What? Did I hear, “Mr Bachchan”? Oh yes! He
was coming.
My joy knew no bounds when the mega star finally arrived,
but I did not ask him a single question during the entire Conference. Instead,
I was carefully noting my points and making a few exclusive questions which the
150-odd media men at the event seemed to have missed.
As soon as the Conference was over and we broke for tea, I
waded my way through a sea of around 40 over-enthusiastic photographers, who’d
rushed towards the stage, to click candid pictures of the biggest star our
country has ever witnessed.
In those days, Amitabh Bachchan hardly gave exclusive
interviews, neither was there any show like Kaun Banega Crorepati, or a blog,
where you’d see or read him often. Then, it was terribly difficult for a
journalist to get an exclusive interview with Big B, and next to impossible for
a teen journo like me.
But where was I to give up!!
Finding my way through the photographers, I reached the
stage just in time before he left. I looked small in front of the six-footer,
but stood rock solid, refusing to move, till he noticed. Giving a look of
amusement, as he glanced at me, I felt, as if I’d managed to win my first
battle.
Having caught his attention (even if it was for a second), I
immediately introduced myself and shot, “Sir, I need four minutes of your
precious time.” Hearing this, Bachchan gave me a very surprised look! “Why
didn’t you ask me your questions during the Conference?” he inquired in his
baritone voice, which was almost unnerving for me then. “Sir, because I wanted
an exclusive interview,” I replied as boldly as I could.
Now, anyone who is aware of journalism would know that
exclusives are next to impossible at Press Conferences. But this was exactly
where I was keen to score. So I pushed him again, stressing, “Sir, I won’t take
more than four minutes.” At this time, Bachchan gave a strong look at me.
‘Does this kid think he can walk into a Press Conference
with 150 scribes and walk out with an exclusive’, he might have thought. I
repeated my plea, almost refusing to budge. “Speak to my secretary tomorrow and
take an appointment,” he said, as if wanting to evade and pass through me.
“Four minutes; only four minutes, sir,” I requested again with a smile this
time.
Wonder if it was my smile or the power of persuasion that
worked. Cause Bachchan gave me the last of those stern looks that fine day, as
he gave up and said, “Ok son, your time starts now”. One after the other, I
quickly shot my questions, while all the photographers circled us, clicking
away.
Thoroughly engrossed in the interview, Bachchan answered
each and every query in his characteristic style. When all my questions were
over, he looked at his watch, then at me, and smiled. “You took fifteen
minutes,” he remarked. Thanking him, I smiled back, knowing well that he ‘gave’
them to me.
I went back to my office and proclaimed, “I’ve managed an
exclusive interview of Amitabh Bachchan”. Everyone laughed! I knew they
wouldn’t believe me, so I took out my tape recorder and made them hear the
conversation. Their jaws dropped.
Our footnote: Two
years after this incident Dale Bhagwagar quit journalism and moved to Public
Relations. A few years later, he handled PR for two of Bachchan’s movies namely
Boom and Aetbaar and had various interactions with the megastar.
-- Article, as appeared in
the Stamp newsletter
the Stamp newsletter
of Whistling Woods International
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