Road To 20: Abhishek Bachchan calls Raavan 'ahead of its time', hails co-star and wife Aishwarya Rai as 'an absolute trooper'

By Tanmayi Savadi

on June 23, 2020

In a week's time, Abhishek Bachchan will complete 2 decades in Bollywood. Celebrating this milestone, the actor has been sharing unknown facts and anecdotes through a special series titled Road To 20. Sharing a roadmap of events that took place in his acting career, Abhishek went down the memory lane and recalled working with his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for the eighth time in Mani Ratnam's Raavan in 2010. His third collaboration with the director, Abhishek called the thriller 'physically and emotionally' challenging.

Gushing over his 'missus', Abhishek called her 'awe-inspiring' and an 'absolute trooper'. Saying that Aishwarya performed a complex role with her trademark smile. He added that just thinking about the emotional and physical challenges of the scenes she did baffle him. Abhishek recalled working with Vikram in Raavan and said he learnt a lot by just observing him. Calling him a great actor, Abhishek admitted being his fan.

View this post on Instagram

#RoadTo20 Year-2010 #Raavan #KheleinHumJeJaanSe Raavan has been the most challenging film both physically and emotionally for me in my career. It’s a wonder how the team managed to pull it off. Mani and I reunited for our 3rd film together. By far the most ambitious story, for him to execute and tell ( in my opinion ). My 8th film with the missus. She was an absolute trooper during the making of the film. The dedication, and sheer strength it took for her to perform the complexities of her role is just awe inspiring. And she did it all with her trademark smile. To think that she had to perform each scene ( regardless of how emotionally and physically challenging ) baffles me. And to do it twice each time- as we were shooting the Hindi and Tamil versions simultaneously. Huge salute! Raavan also gave me the opportunity to work with @the_real_chiyaan I’ve been a huge fan of his ( must have watched Dhool- his Tamil film over 17 times ) he has always been so loving towards me and I learnt so much by just observing him. A great actor! A film truly ahead of its time. Later that year was Khelein hum je jaan se with my dear friend @ashutoshgowariker I had 1st met Ashu on the sets of my fathers film Indrajeet in which he was acting way back in the 1991. We tried several times to work together and finally managed with #KHJJS A HUGE cast comprising of @deepikapadukone , my childhood best friend @sikandarkher and a host of others was a story very close to my heart. When Ashu told me the story of Surya Sen and what he managed with 60 of his students, I felt compelled as a patriotic Indian to be a part of the telling of their immense courage and sacrifice. I’m so proud that we could bring their story to life and tell it to a new generation who might not have known about it. Wonderful vivid memories of the making of this film. The premiere in Kolkata and our shenanigans post the show with our cast and crew is a night I will never forget. What fun!

A post shared by Abhishek Bachchan (@bachchan) on Jun 22, 2020 at 12:02pm PDT

Abhishek also discussed his film with Ashutosh Gowariker- Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey with Deepika Padukone and Sikander Kher. Calling it 'a story very close to his heart', Abhishek said he felt 'compelled as a patriotic Indian to be a part of the telling the story of Surya Sen and his students'.

(Source: Instagram)