As Amitabh Bachchan completes 40 years in Bollywood, he talks about how the film industry has changed, his new films and Bigg Boss

You have many films coming up in which you are playing unconventional roles.
There are five films coming up and because of the strike, they all got bunched together. Ever since I reached this age, all the roles that I have been offered have been quite varied. Like Bhoothnath was different, Paa is different, so are Aladin and Johnny Mastana. Rann is even more contemporary and Teen Patti, in which I play a mathematics professor, is a departure from any genre.

What are your observations on the larger-than-life cinema of the past and the more realistic cinema of today?
This generation wants to break away from given formats, if it can be called that, because we were all accused in the past with ‘Oh, there’s going to be a song, a tree, some running around and then there will be a lady and a villain and then you get rid of him.’ But thank god for this generation that things have moved ahead and how wonderful that I get an opportunity to work with it.
The present generation is very conscious of the fact that it must not be labelled by the escapades of the past. They are trying to do things differently not because they want to be different but because they feel very strongly about things. Whether it is marriage, live-in relationships or the taboos of sex, they are beginning to question everything.

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