Cinema fosters brotherhood, says Amitabh

Carrying his aura and poise with aplomb at a mega-function held here on Saturday night by the South Indian film fraternity, the iconic Amitabh Bachchan rode the crest, likening cinema to a great leveller and touching people’s hearts with Tamil greetings and words of brotherhood.

Big-B turned nostalgic and very philosophical while sharing a dais with 87-year-old DMK patriarch and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, in the backdrop of Kollywood stars’ dazzling performances. Amitabh Bachchan, despite initial confusion at the mega-show as the entire Tamil film industry led by Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan, Sarath Kumar, Ilayaraja, K Balachander and Prakash Raj turned up to honour both Karunanidhi and Big B, lived up to his fans’ expectations as a cultural ambassador. Turning emotional after presenting a “golden globe” to Karunanidhi on behalf of the Film Employees Federation of Southern India (FEFSI), Amitabh said he was deeply touched as the invitation to him showed “the respect you have for the film fraternity in my part of the country (North).” The FEFSI felicitation was for a Rs 90 crore housing project sanctioned by Karunanidhi for the film industry employees and poor second-line artistes. Love for cinema A short film on Kalaignar’s 60-year bond with Tamil cinema — even now he is writing scripts for two Tamil movies— prompted Amitabh to say it took him on “a journey of the film industry through the pen and eyes of a very great writer, your Chief Minister.” Karunanidhi’s creation of “good cinema” also brought about “significant social change” here, he stated. Further, cinema itself “is a very unique entity in our country,” Amitabh said. Cinema is a great leveller. When “you go to a theatre, buy a ticket and get into the dark hall, you never ask who sits next to you, to what caste or religion he belongs to or what colour or skin,” mused Big B. ‘Under one roof’ “But we all enjoy the product that comes before us; we laugh at the same jokes, we sing the same song; this is the only institution in the world bringing all the people together under one roof,” noted Amitabh with pride. Tamil cinema, as an example of “great discipline, skills and technology” has been ahead, he said. Bollywood lacked in some of these skills. Show spoiler As the show reached a climax, popular star Ajith created a stir, accusing a section of filmdom of forcing artistes to join rallies on political and social issues. He was even dubbed anti-Tamil for not joining a rally on the Cauvery issue and such politicisation of film industry should stop, Ajith pleaded. TN Chief Minister Karunanidhi, in his reply, said he was never for politicising the film world. “We are all here not out of our political tags, but because we belong to one big family of creative artistes,” the DMK leader said and urged the people to guard against “infusion” of politics into cinema. South superstar Rajnikanth, who instantly stood up to applaud Ajith’s views that in turn triggered thunderous applause from the audience, termed Amitabh as “my role model and inspiration”. Amitabhji single-handedly overcame his financial problems, which carried an inspirational message for the entire film industry, Rajnikanth added.