Amitabh Bachchan plays a principal of a private college in Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan. The film as everybody knows highlights issues of reservation in our society but Amitabh says in real life he has not experienced any reservations as far as his family and friends are concerned. “Like I have said earlier I have never experienced reservations as
my father never believed in them. I went to a boarding school and later university but I never thought about these issues. It was only in 1984 when I fought elections that I became aware that it was a prominent issue in the country,” he says.
He adds, “If I have been humiliated it might have been because I lacked in something or didn’t have the capacity to deal with the situation. I lost in politics because I didn’t have the capacity to deal with it.”
When asked if casteism could be eradicated from the society, the actor said, “Many attempts have been made. It’s something that is inherent in us. Our society has been made that way.”
Yet the superstar believes that cinema can bring in a change about the way the society thinks. “There have been so many films in the past that have contributed to society. There was this film The China Syndrome that tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety cover ups at a nuclear power plant. Two years later there was this nuclear power plant that faced problems and people could be saved because they remembered how to deal with the situation as they had watched the film,” he adds.