By Subhash K. Jha, IANS

"Yes, AB Corp Ltd's films wing has swung back into action with 'Viruddh'," declares India's biggest showbiz icon Amitabh Bachchan about his film with Sharmila Tagore that released Friday.

He adds about his latest film presented by AB Corp Ltd: "However, we'll only produce films holding someone else's hands. 'Viruddh' was done in collaboration with Mahesh Manjrekar productions."

It's early morning in the Bachchan household, and the senior man of the house is getting ready to leave for the day's shooting of Ravi Chopra's "Babul". Son Abhishek has been shooting all night for Rohan Sippy's "Bluff Master" and has gone to sleep. The lady of the house Jaya is pottering around instructing servants and getting the house moving for the day.

It's another day in the Bachchan household, and another release for AB -- his fifth this year. And if you count "Veer-Zaara" in November 2004 and the voiceover in Pradip Biswas' "Parineeta", then it's been an unbroken string of successes in the past six months.

"But will the luck hold for 'Viruddh'?" Amitabh wonders.

"By the law of averages, the downslide should be around the corner. I hope it doesn't happen with 'Viruddh'. It's a very sincere film about an elderly couple and a trauma that they go through. All of us have worked hard on the film."

Mahesh has been going through a career low lately. Will the AB luck bail him out of the doldrums?

Amitabh shrugs: "I don't know about that. Every director is entitled to make what he wants. As for a career low, didn't I go through it? I do know that this one is straight from Mahesh's heart. He truly believes in 'Viruddh'.

"There are no false moments. The narrative is simple and suffused with believable and moving moments. And the situations in a typical middleclass household are constantly believable. These are the film's USP.

"Also, Mahesh Manjrekar is an actor. That helped. He could explain what he wanted from the actors very clearly."

"Viruddh" is AB's first film with Sharmila Tagore in years.

Amitabh goes on: "And we do make a convincing pair. Whether audiences like our collaboration as much as they liked me with Hemaji in 'Baghban' one cannot say. On-screen compatibility is a matter to be judged entirely by the audience.

"I always leave the casting entirely to the director. Mahesh wanted Sharmila Tagore because he thought she suited the role. We required someone who was strong yet vulnerable. Someone who stands by her old husband as a pillar of strength after tragedy strikes our family."

Amitabh speaks very highly of his screen-son John Abraham. "Tall, handsome, good physique, very soft spoken and affectionate. I had worked with John earlier in 'Aitbaar'. But there we played hostile characters. In 'Viruddh' it was fun to have John as my son."

What pains does the superstar take to keep apart one patriarchal role from another?

He ponders and replies: "It's partly to do with the clothes and makeup, the paraphernalia such as the glasses and the hairstyle. Then the differences come in the dialogues. The words that my character speaks and the way he says them are all important.

"But most importantly, it's the director's vision that makes my role of the father in 'Viruddh' stand apart from the one in 'Waqt' or 'Veer-Zaara'."

AB confesses he had to speak English in a particular way in "Viruddh".

"Quite unlike the way I spoke in 'Black' where I was more suave and sophisticated. In 'Viruddh', I am the ordinary Maharashtrian with middle class tastes and emotions. It was quite an experience."