Mumbai:

Amitabh Bachchan says he is the happiest father alive as son Abhishek, who just got engaged to Bollywood diva Aishwarya Rai, wows audiences with an “incredible and phenomenal” performance in Mani Ratnam’s latest Guru.

Excerpts from an interview

Q: You seem to be the happiest father in the world.

A: Aishwarya is my son’s choice and our choice as well, and we are very happy with that. She’s a simple, traditional and a home loving individual, warm and endearing. Her inner beauty is far greater than her renowned outer beauty. Abhishek’s cho-ice shall be our choice and our happiness. Their acclaim in Guru and the success of the filmjust adds to my joy.

Q: What are your comments on Guru?

A: I saw Guru and I’ve asked to see it again and I shall want to see it a 100 times over. It is fantastic. I speak as a viewer, not as a father. Abhishek is phenomenal. I have held myself back on many an occasion from commenting on my son’s work, but this time I shall not. To hell with niceties and restraint. Abhishek is incredible! I have been choked with emotion ever since... This is a role of a lifetime for him and he has given a performance of a lifetime. It’s a role any actor worth his salt would die for and it’s a performance that any actor worth his salt will envy. For someone so young in age and in profession, to have performed the way he has is a revelation. It is the culmination of the strife of Abhishek to prove himself in the face of continuing odds and innuendos. And it is ironic because this is what Guru is all about.

... My father wrote in his biography: ‘When a father loses to his son, it is his greatest victory.’ I’ve lost to my son and I’m the happiest father alive.

As for working with Mani, I called him and told him, “Now that you have made my son’s life, could you make mine as well, please?”

Q: What do you foresee for yourself in 2007?

A: I don’t wish to foresee anything for myself. I have already foreseen what I want to see in Guru.