Tabu, Big B make history!

In their first film together (and, her last), the gorgeous Tabu and the charismatic Amitabh Bachchan were passion ignited and delightful comedy on screen in Cheeni Kum.

Now, Bollywood has conspired to bring them together again, but in a big and lavish period film based on the life of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. The reclusive Tabu has signed on to play the role of the emperor’s wife who, history recalls, brought the Mauryan dynasty down on its knees. The Big B, of course, will be Ashoka the Great. And critics and fans alike will wait to see whether they recreate their magic on screen again.

Though they belong to different generations (Tabu is 38, Bachchan will be 66), the two made light of the in-between years to bond in Cheeni Kum. Now they are going back several centuries in The Legend of Kunal, the historical film directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi and produced by AB Corp Ltd, for which Jaya Bachchan was said to be originally considered before Tabu for the role ofQueen Tishyarakshita.

Dwivedi said he had no difficulty pairing the two again. “Tabu didn’t hesitate a moment to say yes to the role of the Emperor’s powerful wife who swayed the Mauryan empire with her beauty and politics. We needed an actress with the strength of conviction. Tishyarakshita was unique and such an extraordinary and enigmatic character has never found expression in our cinema,” the director said.

Interestingly, last year Raj Kumar Santoshi had planned a film based on Emperor Ashoka and had cast Ajay Devgan and Bipasha Basu in the two roles.

But Santoshi soon abandoned the idea. Said Dr Dwivedi, “History and its cinematic treatment demand the characters to be true to their antecedents. And Emperor Ashoka, who’s caught in his twilight years in my film, had to be played by Bachchan.

Only he possesses the gravity, sobriety, wisdom and personality along with the age required. I wouldn’t make Ashoka without him. As for Tabu, she plays his young, fiery and assertive wife. Again, only she could play Tishyarakshita.”