Poet`s letter applauding Amitabh Bachchan on display at MP museum

Bhopal: A letter written by noted Hindi poet and Ghazal writer late Dushyant Kumar in praise of Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been kept on display at a museum here.

Dushyant, who died in Bhopal in his early 40s in 1975, had penned a letter to Bachchan showering praises on the actor after watching his performance in the hit movie `Deewar`. A copy of the letter was recently handed over to the museum, named after Dushyant, by his wife Rajeshwari Tyagi. In the letter, Dushyant wrote that Amitabh`s performance in `Deewar` was so powerful that it did not appear that he was acting in the film. The poet wrote Bachchan played his role in the film with such self-confidence that it "deserves only appreciation and nothing else." Bachchan`s role in `Deewar` was such that even an actor of Shashi Kapoor`s standing appeared small before him, he mentioned in the letter. Dushyant, who did his masters in Hindi from Allahabad, also recalled in the letter the times when he used to visit Bachchan`s house in the UP city to meet his illustrious father and poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan. The litterateur said that he had also frequented the Bachchan house at Willingdon Crescent at New Delhi but at that time he was unaware that one of Harivansh Rai`s sons would reach a stature that he would want to write a letter to him. Dushyant recalled that Bachchan`s wife Jaya was very young when she lived in Bhopal and he used to visit her house when he worked as the Hindi producer for All India Radio in the state capital. PTI