Amitabh Bachchan calls son Abhishek his ‘Veeru’, remaking ‘Sholay’ a mistake

Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan says he calls his son Abhishek ‘Veeru’ of the iconic Jai-Veeru jodi from blockbuster “Sholay” which completes 40 years tomorrow (August 15).

When asked who is his real life ‘Veeru’, which was played by Dharmendra on screen, Bachchan said it is his son Abhishek, who is also his ‘friend’. “For me Veeru is Abhishek… he is my friend,” Big B said.

Amitabh Bachchan said he also shares a good rapport with on-screen ‘Veeru’ Dharmendra. “Whenever we meet we share a good, warm relationship,” he said.

“Sholay” also had real life pair of Amitabh and Jaya where she played the role of a widow. “It is good that there were no dialogues between us. We became husband and wife after ‘Zanjeer’. Shweta (his daughter) was also part of ‘Sholay’. There is a scene where I go to return keys to Jaya. While we were doing ‘Sholay’, Jayaji was pregnant,” he said.

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has helmed the remake of “Sholay” with Amitabh Bachchan, south star Mohanlal, Ajay Devgn, Prashant Raj Sachdev and Sushmita Sen. The film drew a lot of criticism and bombed at the box office.

When asked what made him experiment with “Aag”, Big B said, “That you ask him (Ram Gopal Varma). Whenever a film is made and I am part of it …whatever mistakes would have happened (failure) or whatever good things would have happened I take responsibility for that. I feel an actor and a director should be held responsible for the failure of a film. I won’t say I made a mistake. I worked on the film with all honesty… may be it was not a right decision… we accept that,” he said.

Amitabh Bachchan, however seemed to be uncertain on the concept of remakes. “I can’t put my finger on it. I feel if I am part of a remake film I take it as a compliment. Whether a film should be remade or not is the decision of producers and artists involved. Some films have been made and they have been successful but it is a debate… in a way it is like complimenting the original and in a way saying don’t touch the original because that is the best.”