The importance of being earnest, Big B style

On the way back from a shoot, I asked my cameraperson today whose fan he was. He told me once you've interacted with the stars the way we have, you just can't be a fan. It's an hour of setting the stage and then during the 15-minute interview the PR threatens to cut it short five minutes before the time has run out.

A peek behind the celluloid image always renders you cold, tainted with all the hours of waiting for the star. The present PR machinery of the stars makes even the nicest of them feel bland and none of them seems worth the wait.

Over the last fortnight, I've been at three events where Amitabh Bachchan was present.

The first was the second trailer launch of Wazir. The media was more interested in what he had to say about the case filed against him for being Maggi ambassador than the film. And instead of refusing with a "no comment" as most stars would, or being visibly agitated, he apologised saying he wouldn't be able to comment on the matter since it was sub-judice and added that he had stopped being the brand ambassador two years ago. He seemed genuinely upset that we wouldn't get the quote we'd come there for.

The next was the launch of an educational website for children where the senior citizen superstar spent a good hour standing on the stage as the website representative bored the media with a zillion detailed slides on the website. I don't know the amount he was paid, and I don't know if it was gigantic. But to make a 74-year old man stand on the dais while he could have served the purpose of the prop he was made out to be just as well sitting seemed quite unnecessary to me. Mr Bachchan stood rock steady, and while I counted 17 yawns of my own, he even managed to look interested.

The third was at the launch of a smartphone. This was last Friday when all of Mumbai was rained out, all paper boats drowned. My Kareena Kapoor interview was cancelled, an ABCD2 screening with the stars was cancelled and I was sure that Mr Bachchan's event would be cancelled as well considering it was in Worli which is quite a way from his residence in Juhu when you factor in the rains. Contrary to my conviction, Amitabh Bachchan was right on time and took the audience painstakingly through the detailed features of the phone, not stammering or pausing once.

As an entertainment journalist, I'm nobody's fan. But sometimes I think of how Mr Bachchan responds to every inconvenient question I've had to pose to him so politely prefaced with a "ma'am" and I can't help but smile.