Actor Amitabh Bachchan launched the trailer of his upcoming film Goodbye, with co-stars Rashmika Mandanna, Neena Gupta and Sunil Grover in Mumbai, on Tuesday. He joined the event through a video call, and explained that doctors have put restrictions on his public appearances after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 for the second time recently. “First of all, I want to say goodbye to Covid-19,” Big B said on a lighter note.
Responding to a few questions posed by the media, the actor spoke about having back-to-back releases. He was last seen in Ajay Devgn’s Runway 34. Other than Goodbye, he will also be seen in Brahmastra which releases this week.
Bachchan, who has been a part of the film industry for over five decades, said, “It is not a new thing. In our time, four films would release in a month, every Friday we would have a new film. Also, due to Covid-19 and the lockdown for two years, there was a lot of delay because of which a lot of films are now coming together. I hope people will watch this film and love it. I hope people get a chance to watch it in theatres and on OTT too.”
Bachchan also called Goodbye a good work opportunity that came his way. He said, “I just think I got one more job. At my age, we hardly get a job and whenever we get one, I feel very fortunate.”
Bachchan also spoke about feeling satisfied with the kind of work that’s coming his way as he is soon going to turn 80. He said he wants to continue learning from new actors in the days to come. “The opportunity to work in so many films is the highest form of satisfaction. Other than that, all actors would agree, one should never be satisfied, because then you lose out on the happiness of learning new things. All these actors standing here are great and every day I have worked with them, I’ve learnt something. You’ll be seeing many of these actors for the first time, but all of them are ace actors, very talented. Looking at today’s generation of actors, I feel amazed at how good their work is and how in the first films they do so well, in their initial years they’ve already done so well. It took me fifty years to be where I am and I’m still learning. And then these beautiful young actors come and do great work in their first film itself and I get to learn from them,” Bachchan said.
On how he manages to not let his work get monotonous, Bachchan gave credit to the writers and directors he associates with. He said, “The credit should not go to me but to the writers, directors and producers who conceive a concept and make a film. And to be able to get a job and work with a lovely director, producer and writer is extremely fortunate for me. They conceive and they write what the film and character is going to be about. We just go and do what the writer has written and what the director tells us to do. If they are getting monotonous, then ask them the question. For me, it is an honor and privilege that they are able to give something different to me.”
Goodbye is a family drama where the family is dealing with the grief of a member’s death. Talking about the film’s story, Bachchan said, “Family is of utmost importance. Staying with family, spending time with family and listening to them, these things are getting lost nowadays as family dynamics are changing, our society is changing, our lives are changing.”
“My family has had an influence on my life. The diktat from the head of the family was that we should work all day, but when it comes to dinner, we should all sit together and eat as elders would tell us stories and we kids would sit and share what happened during the day. That whole element of being together as a family is what is very attractive about this film,” Bachchan concluded.
Goodbye is scheduled to be released in theatres on October 7.
