Deepa can't stop raving, AB can't take It

"Jesus! This is getting a little scary!" exclaimed the senior Bachchan from London on Tuesday. He was on the way back to Mumbai from the Toronto Film Festival where the response to his performance in Rituparno Ghosh's The Last Lear was overwhelming to us out here, scary to the actor himself.

Says the enraptured director, "In all my life I've never seen an Indian actor, or for that matter any actor, give such a passionate and complete performance. Mr Bachchan just sweeps you away. I can't wait to work with him."

Preity Zinta adds, "He's even better in Last Lear than he was in Black. And that's saying a lot!"

Tell AB about these comments, and he grunts, "Did she say that? Oh my gosh! This is getting seriously embarrassing. I won't compare Last Lear with Black. They're different films and different roles conceived by different filmmakers. I know Deepa saw Last Lear and she liked it. We met over dinner after the screening. I've worked on several different graphs for my character in the Last Lear. I wonder if everyone would catch them! We now take Last Lear to the Rome and London film festivals."

AB lands in Mumbai tomorrow and heads straight to Delhi to receive his National award for Black. "I'm rushing to Delhi before they change their minds," he deadpans.