“I wouldn’t say the role of the media has been diluted. There is more diversity in the communication system we have 400-odd television channels, numerous website there are so many modes of communication. These days journalists need cover events quicker than before. It’s much more competitive than what it was two decades ago. The time period... turnaround period has reduced dramatically,” he says.

Instead of thinking of Rann in terms of hidden messages, one should look at it as another story with a number of characters, narrating a story.

Bachchan plays the role of Vijay Harshvardhan Malik, the founder of India’s 'first' private news channel. The Harvard-educated Malik is a respected figure among journalists since he believes in telling the truth.

This is not the first time we are seeing him in a film that deals with the media. In the superb 1989 film, Main Azaad Hoon, Amitabh Bachchan played Azaad and Shabana Azmi a bold journalist. Her anti-corruption articles run dry after a change in the ownership of the newspaper she works for. In a fit of anger, she publishes a fictitious letter written by a person called Azaad. The other film from the 1980s that deserves mention is New Delhi Times, featuring Shashi Kapoor, who played the role of Vikas Pande, an honest journalist from Uttar Pradesh who comes to New Delhi where he becomes editor of a national daily. But Rann is different; it looks at the role of television journalism.

Bachchan continues, “Just because you happen to be a celebrity doesn’t give you the right to comment on anything and everything. Just because someone is an important figure, he or she invariably gets targeted.”

The actor, though, hasn’t been a journalist but he certainly has seen one person very closely - Taroon Kumar Bhaduri, his wife Jaya Bachchan’s father. Bhaduri was a correspondent for The Statesman and he wrote extensively on the dacoits of Chambal. “By and large there were times when he wouldn’t be happy with the way media reacted. We respected the way he functioned.”

Big B’s relationship with the media has been through good and rough patches - his phenomenal rise to fame in the 1970s, then his political years and finally his return to films.

“There was a long period of time when we didn’t speak. They banned me first and then I stopped speaking. This continued till the time both sides saw the futility of the situation.”

Playing the owner of a private television channel in Rann obviously brings up the question of censoring content on news channels. “The issue needs to be debated first and the process should involve viewers, policy-makers and media representatives. There needs to be some self-introspection. Readers and viewers need to be given a voice.”

In fact, the actor found his voice when he started blogging. “It’s something wonderful. If there are times when I felt I have been misquoted, I speak up through my blog.”

He says the future of television channels in India is immense. “It’s only going to get bigger. Say, for example, satellite TV reaches 70 million homes and if there are four members on an average in a family, it’s reaching out to 280 million people. The figures will only increase.”

The actor’s last film turned out to be a huge hit. “Paa was a marvellous experience. I never expected it to be this big a hit. At ABCL we will continue to do films that we are sincere about. We are not a production house in the usual sense of the term.”

Looking ahead, he is now taking on roles that he wants to. “Every role has its moment. If one didn’t play the leading man back then, he would’ve lost it. There were limitations before but now it’s different.”

Though Ram Gopal Verma’s last few films didn’t attract viewers, his ventures with Bachchan have always turned out to be good. “He has been giving me different roles. He has respect for an actor and he allows artistes to breathe, to live and express themselves. It’s how he cuts and edits that gives his projects a sense of immediacy.”