Bachchan rolls out the welcome mat for Khan

Over the decades, few have managed to cross the threshold of Jalsa, and even fewer have been welcomed with a home-cooked meal and a private film screening by the patriarch of the palatial home, Bollywood’s Amitabh Bachchan.

But if you happen to be Aamir Khan, even a red carpet welcome wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for the perfectionist actor.

Such was the case this past weekend when Khan was invited over to Bachchan’s plush home in Juhu, a Mumbai suburb, to enjoy a hot meal and catch a private screening of the latter’s award-winning film, Paa.

The host tweeted about a mystery guest over social media website, Twitter early on Saturday afternoon, only to reveal Khan’s identity shortly after, saying via his handle, SrBachchan: “Ok! So that was Aamir coming over for dinner and wanting to see Paa .. Just finished .. He loved it .. Said Abhishek was terrific.”

For those not in the know, Paa has been created by Bachchan’s production house and sees the senior actor play a 13-year-old boy with an extremely rare genetic defect that causes accelerated ageing called progeria.

Playing the role of his on-screen father in the film is real-life son, Abhishek Bachchan.

The movie has swept all the Best Actor trophies for the senior Bachchan at recent award ceremonies, and it also seemed to get Khan’s stamp of approval in the process.

The actor tweeted through his Twitter handle, aamir-khan shortly after the evening wrapped up, saying: “Just got back home after watching Paa. Had a good cry. Lovely film. Amithji is outstanding. Learning experience watching him.”

He added: “Really loved Abhishek. He hit just the right note, very moving... Had been wanting to watch Paa since before its release. So glad I watched it today.” 

It is interesting to note that these very actors were not above taking jabs at each other in the media in 2007 when Khan objected to the portrayal of a physically challenged in 2005’s award-winning film, Black, which starred Bachchan in the lead.

In a press interview, Khan panned film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, saying his handling of such a sensitive subject was 'insensitive and manipulative.' He also termed the performances of the actors 'over the top'.

The criticism did not go down well with Bachchan at the time who in an interview with Indian newspaper Mid-Day, said: "I cannot comment whether my performance was towering or not, but Aamir may be right on the other maybe the performances did go 'over the top' of his head!"

Matters were put to the rest when Khan shortly after clarified his stance on the subject on aamirkhan.com/blog, stating: “I have the highest regard for Mr Bachchan and I am [a] very big fan of his work.

Probably one of the biggest. I believe that he along with Mr Dilip Kumar are among my two favourite actors of Indian Cimema[sic].

 I have no hesitation in saying that I don't even feature on the same platform as an actor. He is also in my opinion THE biggest star that Indian Cinema has ever seen."

We guess that was enough to warrant a dinner invite two years later.

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