Mumbai, June 10: Even if it lasts only a few seconds, a role in a film on South African leader Nelson Mandela is something Amitabh Bachchan really covets.
"I've been visiting that country regularly from the 1989-90 onwards," Bachchan said in an interview.

"At that time, apartheid was on the way out. The African National Congress was on the way in. My friend in South Africa and the organiser of my first concert there, Anant Singh, got a lot of support from Nelson Mandela.

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"Around 60,000 spectators watched my first concert in South Africa in a football stadium. As an entertainer it was a revealing moment for me."

"Anant Singh wants to produce a film based on Nelson Mandela's biography, Long Road To Freedom. He had spoken to Shekhar Kapur to direct the film.

"While Anant was in process of planning this project I told him if there's any role for an Indian actor in the film, then I'd like the canvas for it, even if it's a passing shot lasting no more than a few seconds.

"At that point of time it was still being scripted. And that's how far it has gone.

"When I was in South Africa this time, the South African high commissioner to India said there're some lovely biographic stories of freedom fighters in South Africa and the Indian film industry should look at them. In response to this I said, Shekhar Kapur is planning a bio-pic on Nelson Mandela. I don't know when."

He was in South Africa last month for the International Indian Film Academy Awards.

"It's gaining in recognition and attendance every year. I think IIFA is creating a lot of awareness about Indian cinema overseas.

"People from the venue chosen are especially delighted. They're like, 'Hey, where was Indian cinema all our life?' South African fans have always been very generous to me."

While he was in South Africa, his latest film, Armaan, released to a shockingly unresponsive audience. But Bachchan stands by the film.

"I don't think the director Honey Irani had any pretensions about what kind of film she was making. It was more sensitive in treatment than the mass-oriented products and not designed as a blockbuster. I guess people weren't ready to accept it. Their verdict was final."

The London-based Asian Guild's lifetime achievement is yet another feather in his cap. But Bachchan who flew back to Mumbai after a long gap is elated by the honour.

"It comes from expatriates in Britain. The Guild is composed of people from both the main communities in India and Pakistan, and recognises people who contribute in that direction.

"The guild felt Shah Rukh Khan, Yash Chopra and I have contributed in this endeavour. So they honoured us three."

There's more on the Bachchan front. At the Marrakech festival in Morocco to be held from September 30-October 1, he will be saluted with a retrospective of his films in the "Carte Blanche" section of the festival.

He is free to take four to five of his films of his choice there. The busiest star-actor in India who's currently shooting for Raj Santoshi's Khakee has also been invited by the United Nations to be a goodwill ambassador. "But where's the time?" he asks.

The focus at Morocco would be on Indian cinema as perceived through the work of Bachchan.