In one of his jestful moods, mega-star Amitabh Bachchan quipped that ‘he had become the official book launcher of the industry ’. Having unveiled a string of popular books in the recent past, the erudite, articulate Bachchan-saab is considered ‘the charismatic mascot’ by authors. Not surprisingly, the Big B was the cardinal choice of acclaimed actress-turned-author Divya Dutta, as well, when she got him to formally unveil her book ‘Me & Ma’ a sentimental, frothy, yet candid, intimate memoir of her close bonding with her ‘late’ mother Dr. Nalini Dutta.
The book’s foreword is penned by the savvy Shabana Azmi. Complimenting Divya on her literary debut, Amitabh stated it was an “extremely difficult task to recollect emotional memories and jot down one’s fond memoirs”.
In her address, the star-author Dutta recalled how Big B was and is her iconic idol. “As a young girl, I would even dance to Amitabh-jee’s popular song ‘Khaike Paan Banaraswala’. My dream was to ‘co-star’ someday with Mr. Bachchan. Which did finally take place in themovie ‘Baaghban’ where I had some mean, rude scenes with him because of which, off-screen I felt so upset. Realising my discomfort the next day, he good-humored me and made me feel extra-special. That I guess is among his super-star qualities,” smiled Divya whose charming celeb buddies Sonali Bendre and Juhi Chawla also added their glam quotient to the event. “God could not be everywhere, so he created ‘Moms’,” declared Juhi, who, way back in 1998, lost her mother Mona in a tragic car accident in Europe.