BACK IN THE GAME

2020 MARKS TWO DECADES IN FILM FOR ABHISHEK BACHCHAN THE STAR TELLS US ALL ABOUTLUDO ON NETFLIX AND PLAYING THE HAND HE WAS DEALT, BUTON HIS OWN TERMS

- Sonali Velinker Kamat

OVER THE course of a twenty-year career, Abhishek Bachchan has been asked the same questions so many times, he could sleepwalk through an interview and still ace it. He is hard-pressed to recall more than a single exchange that didn’t probe into his life as the son of Amitabh Bachchan and the husband of Aishwarya Rai. Career graphs, character arcs and role prep just don’t seem to interest people as much.

Always composed, Abhishek has the statesman-like ability to choose exactly the right words when responding to any query. And not just for himself, as I soon discover. I call him ‘politically correct,’ to which his immediate response is that he’d rather be called ‘proper’.

How disparate is his personal and professional life? “What you see is what you get,” Abhishek insists, though I’d hazard a guess these waters run deep. Glad, however, to take the glimpse we’re offered, we venture down a tried and tested road. What can he tell us about why he chose his latest Netflix film, Ludo? What was it like working with his