Big B honoured at Salon Du Cinema in Paris

exclusive by Devansh Patel



You saw Anil Kapoor and A.R.Rahman at the Golden Globe Awards and you couldn't stop cheering them on. You also put your hands together for SRK and K-Jo while they walked the red carpet at the Golden Globes. Now please give a standing ovation for Big B, the Big Daddy of Indian cinema, Mr Amitabh Bachchan. Why? Read on.
Le Salon du Cinema (Cinema Fair) in Paris is paying tribute to Indian Cinema for their new edition today, 15th January 2009, and with Mr Amitabh Bachchan being the guest of honour with the presence of his wife Jaya Bachchan, son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter in law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, are organizing a White Night of his films. What's interesting is that apart from films like Ramesh Sippy's Sholay and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black being screened, Salon du Cinema discussed the choices with Mr Bachchan and he personally wished to present Sarkar and Sarkar Raj to the French audience too. The films will be screened at the Fair, in Paris for about 400 viewers (professionals, distributors and local audience) on a first-come-first basis.

Bollywood Hungama also learnt that the Salon du Cinema could have chosen Indian films already distributed in France but Sarkar and Sarkar Raj for them form a part of Mr Bachchan's best work in the recent past and believe that the films can easily reach the European audiences. 15th evening will see a lavish opening ceremony celebrating Amitabh Bachchan's work. On the 16th January, prominent speakers such as Pan Nalin and Shubho Sekar talk about Indian Cinema today and coproduction between India and France, and on the same day at about 8.15pm Paris time, Sarkar Raj will be presented to the world audience with Mr Amitabh Bachchan gracing the occassion followed by a dinner with the organizers team.

We tried to get in touch with the director of Sarkar and Sarkar Raj, Mr Ram Gopal Varma but he was unavailable for comment. What we did get our hands on was a note from Ramu on Sarkar which reads:

The God Father is a film which has influenced me a lot. I have lived with that story for 25 years ever since I've read the book. The film struck a strong resonance across the worldwide audience because people like Sarkar exist in every country on the map. They could be political leaders, underworld dons, dictators or kings...all of them have the same story. The Sarkar movies are about framing and showcasing the aura of power. Each and every aspect of filmmaking be it music or screenplay or cinematography were employed for one and only purpose that is to capture the intensity in the actor's eyes, through which we see a world of high drama be it politics, treachery, revenge, passion, courage, love or relationships.

It would've been good to see all the three top directors, Mr Ram Gopal Varma, Mr Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Mr Ramesh Sippy along side the Bachchan's at the Salon du Cinema celebrating what is and will be considered to be Big B's top three performances of his acting career.