In part one of this exclusive interview, Gazette columnist DEVANSH PATEL meets the iconic Amitabh Bachchan who plays a 13-year-old child in his most challenging role in three decades

IN THE few seconds it takes Amitabh Bachchan to amble across his office to shake my hand, I have the distinct feeling that he has already sized me up. It's the way those black eyes seem to take everything in, and give nothing away. In his brown suede tracksuit, Bachchan seems relaxed and excited to talk about his most ambitious film, Paa, which is produced by his company AB Corp.

"Would you like to have any tea or coffee?" he asks. Now that's a chance only a fool would miss. "I will have some tea, thank you," I reply. He then makes me feel embarrassed. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting for half-an-hour," he says. I don't know how to respond.

People around the world wait for an icon of his stature for years to see him in the flesh, and I am here having tea with him.

What had I to say? But then in a second he says: "My Facebook profile this morning read, 'On my way to Janak... it's Jalsa time with the little Auro'."

Is that what the next 15 to 20 minutes are going to be?" I ask. "Yes. I think we can do a few questions. Maybe I'll tell you how I behave as Auro, the 13-year-old progeria kid I play in Paa. Actually, I've got my teeth in the little orange box kept in front of you. I can even put them on and do the interview in the Auro look," he suggests.

I am excited to know more about Auro. So I ask: "How much does Auro know about Amitabh Bachchan?" Big B laughs and replies: "Very little, I think. Some of his favourite people in the film are Jackie Chan.

Auro is more of a PlayStation freak.

He likes video games. He has his own room with all kinds of paintings and pictures and little objects that he is fond of. "He has a huge toy monkey which is made in China, and says that people won't understand the monkey because he speaks Chinese. Auro is fond of himself. He talks to him, imitates himself and dances. That's Auro."

B is someone who tends to get involved. Not getting involved is never an option for this maestro. It felt as if I was talking to Auro and not Amitabh. I ask the actor and producer whether he was a troublesome child throughout the film, to which he answers, 'not really'.

"Auro is a very intelligent person, despite the fact that he suffers from a genetic disorder where you age four or five times more than normal. But otherwise, he is a bright child and not troublesome at all."

Where Mr Bachchan is right now is intriguing, too, though. His most challenging role is here in the form of Auro. He says: "The film is not issue based. It's not devoted entirely to Auro's abnormality. Auro is another character in a much larger script. Paa is a regular sweet story of a child who helps reunite his parents."

With so much about Auro, the actor can't wait to recall his own schooldays. We rewind a few decades.

"I went to a convent in Allahabad. I did what a normal school child would do even today - drawing, games and a bit of theatre. I remember I played a chicken. That's the earliest memory I have of school."

But what he doesn't realise is that little Auro's dancing step has become popular among schoolchildren in India. Every little boy and girl is dancing to the tune when the Paa trailer is played on television.

He laughs and says: "That's good to know that kids are catching up with the 'Auro Step'. In the film, Auro dances when he is excited - with his schoolmates they all do their own victory dance."

From dancing to gaming, we shift gears. I call him the new gadget freak. He disagrees. "I've never been able to keep up with all that gadgetry. My eight-year-old grandson does it. And every time I think I've bought him something new, I'm amazed to see that he can fix it up in five minutes. I'm surprised at their gadgets acumen nowadays.

"I like to keep up with it and I have to make an effort. I still don't know how to use my laptop completely, but I do manage it well.

"I can go on the net, browse, upload pictures, write my blog, but that's it. Send and receive emails too. But I'm sure I can do a lot more," he says.

At 67, the actor believes in the importance of this film. "I think for the first time you will never see the main face of the protagonist. Yes, Auro is me and I look like what I look in the posters. So people won't see Amitabh Bachchan's face. Maybe that's revolutionary. I don't know whether an actor my age has played a 13-year-old-boy. I think for the first time, I am playing a reel-life son to my real-life son, who plays my father in the film. It's a role reversal. You can call that an innovation."

It is his voice that makes him so unmistakably Amitabh Bachchan. Goofy, but masterful; loud, yet full of cadence, it is the voice of a cartoon character and an orator all at once. Like him, it is both imposing and reassuring. Despite his overwhelming fame, Big B is charming and polite, funny and gentlemanly.

He is exactly as you think he would be. He is the best friend you've never had, but easily might - all of which feeds neatly into his celluloid persona.

In many ways he is the perfect movie star: not quite handsome enough to unsettle; not celebrity enough to bring baggage; clever enough to disappear into the roles he plays; and yet always, overwhelmingly, Amitabh Bachchan.

* Part two of the interview with Amitabh Bachchan continues next week.