Amitabh Bachchan to Now Meet Critics and Discuss His New Films

Amitabh Bachchan interacts with film critics post the release of TE3N

Most stars in Bollywood are not comfortable talking about movie reviews. Many top stars in the industry say that they don’t even read reviews and also believe that reviews do not matter when it comes to box-office collections, well that’s a debate that can go on and on.

The fact that producers regularly put out glowing reviews of their films along with the name of the media house or film critic as ads to attract an audience proves that the industry believes that these reviews can help in getting people into theatres.

Amitabh Bachchan is not someone who ignores reviews. In fact yesterday the veteran actor met film critics who have seen his latest film TE3N in Mumbai and said that he reads all reviews and even pins the ‘important’ ones up on his board.

At this meeting with film critics, Big B started something unusual. He has decided to interact with critics after they see any of his new films, irrespective of whether they have liked it or not. Bachchan plans to practice this for all his new films and wants to document this as well. The debate will be recorded on a multi-camera setup, which includes Bachchan himself, director of the film and the critics.

Bachchan says the debate will not be about why a critic liked or disliked a film but would be to understand what they felt about it and what didn’t connect with them. Critics are free to share their opinion as harsh as it may be and none of this will be put on air on any news channel. Bachchan adds that he would like this recording to be documented for the future generations on how a particular film was received by critics, so that those planning to make films, act or become movie critics can watch this and learn from it.

For me it was a most educative exercise. Generally what transpires is that the film is shown to the media, they file their reviews, the readers and the makers and those involved read them, made their own personal mental observations on the criticism of the critics and that is it. But I felt that if we were to initiate a discussion among all the critics and the people involved in the making of a film we would get to know and debate what issues disturbed them what they liked or disliked and why and allow us the makers to either explain or accept the verdicts or reactions for a better product the next time around. 

Amitabh Bachchan (on his blog)

I have not mentioned what exactly transpired between Big B and the critics over this interaction on his latest film Te3n because Bachchan himself is planning to put it out on a platform which can be accessed by those who wish to see it.

As a journalist I believe this change and exercise is a huge step ahead, which not just educative but will also help strengthen the relationship between stars and journalists, which requires a much-needed push.