Mumbai, Aug 3 : Megastar Amitabh Bachchan today feels that his decision of putting in three years for a science course in college, was a wrong one and says he could have utilised that time to hone his acting skills instead! "I feel, if I had got to know my interest towards acting or film industry, I would have spent three years at Pune Institute, where I would have honed my skills. I feel those three years (of college) were a waste of time for me," Bachchan said.
He was addressing a group of students at an institute here last evening. Bachchan attended Allahabad's Jnana Prabodhini and Boys' High School followed by Nainital's Sherwood College, where he majored in the art stream. He later went on to study at Kirori Mal College of the University of Delhi and completed a Bachelor of Science degree.
"In our times, our parents used to say, being a graduate is very important. But we had no one to guide us or direct us. Today, there are institutes, which direct you on which stream you should go for. In our times, we did not had this thing so we were very frustrated and had no clue what we have to do. So we used to do whatever our parents used to tell us," Bachchan said.
"When I went to College they asked what they want to do I told them I want to take up science, since I had scored good marks in science in Sherwood College. On the first day of college...in our first class of science happened in 45 minutes I realised I took a wrong decision. Those three years were horrible as I did not understand anything," he said.
Bachchan later gave up a job as freight broker for the shipping firm before switching to acting.
The 68-year-old actor made his acting debut as one of the seven protagonists in 'Saat Hindustani' (1969), the film won him his first National Film award for Best Newcomer. In 1973, he got his first hit 'Zanzeer' which established his 'angry young man' image.
Recollecting his college days, Bachchan said, "We were away from home. So we had got this freedom for the first time...like do whatever you want...go wherever you want. The freedom was the best experience I had in those three years.
Bunking college was a normal thing." "In our times, if we were spotted at Coffee shop with any friend ...it was a very big thing. Once my mother's friend saw me having coffee with someone, she informed my mother about it but my mother said 'Thank God, he is normal'," he chuckled. PTI
