Abhishek Bachchan on working with Aishwarya Rai in Gulab Jamun: Always a pleasure to work with missus

Actor Abhishek Bachchan has opened up about taking a two-year break from acting and returning to the big screen with his new film, Manmarziyaan, where he stars with Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal, and collaborating with wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Gulab Jamun. In an interview to Deccan Chronicle he has spoken at length about his career thus far, his hiatus and finally what the future looks like.

On the question of why he chose to stay away from films for so long (Housefull 3 in 2016 was his last release), Abhishek said it was a conscious decision. He wanted to step back and take a look at the choices he had made and examine the quality of work he had been doing. He called it a process of “revaluation, reassessment” and taking stock of his “strengths and weaknesses”. It was then that he decided on the kind of work he really wanted to do. He added that he won’t make the mistakes he made in the past but also said that he wouldn’t “shy away from making new mistakes”. He was happy that helping him in the process is a new team.

Speaking about how he ended up doing Manmarziyaan, he mentioned that he had known Aanand L Rai, the film’s producer, for many years. When the latter asked him if he would be keen on doing a film with him, Abhishek was more than willing. Listening to Kanika Dhillon, the film’s writer, narrate the story, Abhishek knew he wanted to do the film. It was much later that he got to know that Anurag Kashyap would be directing it and confesses that, knowing Anurag’s school of filmmaking, he found the idea rather interesting.

When asked about his experience working with Anurag, Abhishek said, he was impressed how well the director uses silences in his films. Contrary to Anurag’s image as a maker of dark films, Manmarziyaan, he said, is a “light, happy film”. He is also happy as he has never played a character like Robbie before.

The comfort level between Abhishek and Anurag is obviously pretty high as the actor is set to work in another production of Anurag’s called Gulab Jamun, where he will be paired with his wife, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. He also added how working with his wife was always special. “Gulab Jamun is a sweet film and it’s always a pleasure to work with the missus. Every time we’ve done a film together, it’s been special.”

Abhishek, nonetheless, did let out a bit of a scoop here -- before beginning work on Gulab Jamun he will be doing another film. However, he said he couldn’t reveal any more.

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