/> Belying the over-enthusiastic reports of a marriage date for Abhishek and Aishwarya, the Big B says, "We still haven't got a date. The two of them are so busy, we haven't been able to sit down and work it out with the kids and their parents.

Now Abhishek's schedule (for Drona) is postponed. So I'm hoping we'd be able to sit down and finally work out a date. But Aishwarya is in Karjat shooting, Jaya has gone off to parliament. Everyone is impatient. So are Aishwarya and Abhishek."

Though the two families would like it to be an intimate affair, there's obviously going to be a large wedding.

"Let's see. I think far too much is being made this affair. It's just another wedding."

It was a very moving moment when the Big B went up to the stage at the Filmfare awards to give his wife the lifetime achievement. "I didn't know I had to give a speech. So whatever I said came from the heart. I needed to recollect a lifetime with Jaya to give her the trophy for lifetime achievement.

That evening brought out a lot of emotions. My daughter Shweta who's a really tough girl was moved to tears. Aishwarya was crying. For Jaya to acknowledge us and Aishwarya's family...was wonderful.

The day Abhishek announced Aishwarya was the girl he was going to marry, she became part of our family. I look on Aishwarya as a daughter."

As for the Big B not getting a Filmfare award this year, "I didn't deserve one this year. I thought Abhishek was far more award-worthy in KANK. I very happily and proudly accept that."

On stage Jaya had thanked her husband for giving her a home.

Says AB, "That was a manifestation of a larger socio-cultural philosophy. In our society a woman is uprooted from her paternal home after marriage and put through this whole process of re-acclimatization in what's known as a paraya ghar.

A lot of us don't understand how painful this uprooting process is for a woman. That evening Jaya was acknowledging that whole process."

For a special directors' preview of Nishabd on Wednesday night, Abhishek Bachchan was moved to tears.

Says the Big B, "I called all my directors to see Nishabd on Wednesday. Ravi Chopra who's very hard director to please was deeply moved. People are surprised. They came expecting something else.

Abhishek had only some rushes earlier on. He had some apprehensions about Nishabd. He doesn't show his emotions that easily. He was visibly moved. He feels my performance in Nishabd is better than Black.

Abhishek made an interesting observation. He said I had huge props in Black. In Nishabd I perform without props. Again Abhishek is a hard customer to please."

The Big B laughs, "People had come in with all sorts of apprehensions. Some women almost thought they'd be confronted by pornography. But men and women alike were bowled over by the film's sensitivity. Nobody expects Nishabd from Ram Gopal Varma. They've seen him do violent gangster films.

To see this sensitive side of him....One of the responses from the audience was that the whole relationship is so beautifully justified. I've maintained from Day 1 that Ramu and I weren't collaborating on something cheesy.

All that talk of Lolita made it seem as though there was something sexual about the film...But there's no sex at all in Nishabd. This isn't Lolita at all. Yes, Ramu was partly inspired by Balakrishnan's Cheeni Kam. But that's a very different film. Cheeni Kham is very different from Nishabd. Far more sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek."

About his very quiet presence in Ekalvya, the Big B challenges, "What else would you expect the family's royal guard to do? My character had to be subservient to everyone in the palace. I've had people ask me how I could be subservient to even Jimmy Shergil in Eklavya.This is stupidity.

Long ago I did a film where a lot of young ladies took up the jhadoo and started beating me up. One of my directors was shocked. 'Aapko aise kaise maar sakte hain'. Some fans are already objecting to Nishabd. They're saying my behaviour is shameless. People are missing the point. How wonderful that an actor is willing to take up a role like this, no matter how it makes him look."

Finally on Shah Rukh's comments on AB's friend and brother Amar Singh at the Filmfare awards. "Those were off-hand comments made in jest. Such comments shouldn't be taken seriously."