Abhishek Bachchan made his acting debut with the drama film, Refugee in 2000. The film was written and directed by JP Dutta, and along with Abhishek, also marked the debut of the now-leading actress, Kareena Kapoor. Apart from them, it starred Jackie Shroff, Sunil Shetty and Anupam Kher, and was the fifth highest-grossing film of that year. Now, in an interview, Abhishek mentioned a few anecdotes from his debut film and why he feared that his father, Amitabh Bachchan would be called by the film’s crew to take him back.
Abhishek Bachchan recalls how he casually didn’t listen to three pages of dialogue
In an interview with Humans of Bombay, Abhishek Bachchan talked about his first scene from the film, Refugee, wherein he was heard revealing his name as ‘Refugee’. For the uninitiated, the drama film was based on an unnamed Indian Muslim boy, played by Abhishek, who helps illegal refugees from India and Pakistan to cross the border through the Great Rann of Kutch. He recalled the director’s father, OP Dutta briefed him about his dialogues in the scene featuring him and actor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, who played Kareena Kapoor’s father in the film. Recalling the same, Abhishek revealed:
“I remember OP sahab came and said let me tell you the dialogues and I was like ya sure. It was a scene between me and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. I had to fill jerry cans with water, as I embark on a trip with them. He asks, ‘Mr, what is your name?’ and I had to say, ‘Name? Refugee.’ I thought I got this, I am the bomb, I know how to do this.’ In my foolish, immature arrogance, the moment he told me the dialogue ‘Name Refugee’, I switched off! So I didn’t even listen to the three pages of dialogues after that! I had no clue.”