Earlier this week, speaking to this newspaper in an interview, he had also spoken of his tryst with politics.

Commenting upon the charges levelled at him, he said: “It is not as if ringing 10 Janpath would mean an end to any Income-Tax matter... or any other such accusation. Look at the allegations hurled at me with regard to Bofors in 1987. That was when Rajiv Gandhi, my friend, was the Prime Minister. So these things make no difference.... In all the cases and legal matters coming up, I will do three things —- follow the law of the land, my conscience and do what is morally right.”

Recounting his family’s once very close ties with the Congress party, particularly the Gandhi Parivar, Bachchan surprisingly spoke without the bitterness that has come to characterise the ties between them.

“I have the fondest memories of Rajiv Gandhi, and it will always be like that,” he said. “Sarojini Naidu introduced my father to Pandit Nehru and Gandhi. My mother was an outsider to Allahabad, a young Sikh girl married into the city, her clothes and style were different. These were admired and the subject of much interest then... people used to talk about it. Mrs Indira Gandhi was very close to her.... I very much value my relationship with the family, and I don’t want to talk about why things went wrong, as it is too personal. But yes, whenever our children meet, they do chat. I didn’t invite them to Abhishek and Aishwarya’s wedding as we wanted to keep it small.”

... contd.