"It feels like yesterday,” smiled Abhishek Bachchan, recalling his film debut 25 years ago with Refugee (2000). The première of Refugee, held at Mumbai’s iconic Liberty cinema, will remain an indelible, landmark moment. The evening marked that he was ready to follow in the footsteps of his successful parents, actors Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, but more importantly, it signified the beginning of a new identity for him.  

 

The date of his first première is at the top of his mind: “June 29, 2000,” he rattled off. The mix of nervousness and excitement meant he “couldn’t sleep the night before the première.”

Première day dawned with light showers, and Abhishek believed it to be an auspicious omen. As evening fell, all roads led to Liberty cinema. Opened in 1949, the first film to debut at the theatre was Mehboob Khan’s Andaz, starring Dilip Kumar, Nargis, and Raj Kapoor. On this evening, one of Kapoor’s granddaughters Kareena Kapoor Khan was making her debut alongside another star kid from a legacy family.

At the première hosted by filmmaker J P Dutta, the Bachchan and Kapoor families were in attendance as was the who’s who of the industry. Abhishek shared, “I remember everyone [from the] film industry and the media was there. I walked in [and the first person] I met was Yash Chopra, who hugged me and gave me advice. I remember who was sitting next to me and how the show finished.”

Even as the show ended, the night had just begun for Abhishek, who went to celebrate his foray into Hindi cinema, with his friends. “We went to the Regal Room at the Oberoi Hotel. A dinner and party were hosted for the première. I was there until early in the morning with my friend Sikander [Kher].”

What he did next is the moment he remembers the most vividly. “While driving back at 7 am, we stopped at Marine Drive. I stood there for a while and took in the moment that I was going [to be an actor]. We also returned to Liberty to see if people had queued up to watch the film.”

That morning started the career of the actor, who would go on to have a long run at the movies; with memorable performances in Yuva (2004), Guru (2007), and Manmarziyaan (2018), among others, and who would foray into OTT before his peers did.  

Of course, that morning, Abhishek didn’t know any of this. All he had was one question: Is the audience liking his movie? He laughed as he recalled, “[Later in the day], I called Bebo and told her we should do theatre rounds [to gauge reactions]. We went to Gaiety-Galaxy and Chandan Cinema.”