Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has received a special gift from Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who has been mingling with the Hindi film fraternity here.

"Another evening with Steven Spielberg at dinner... a gift for me from him... his coffee table book. What he wrote inside CBD. CBD: Cannot be disclosed, " tweeted Amitabh.

The 70-year-old veteran not just anchored Spielberg's masterclass with as many as 61 Indian filmmakers here Monday, but he was also the first guest to arrive at a party organised by Indian business tycoon Anil Ambani and his wife Tina in Speilberg's honour Tuesday night.

Spielberg is in India to celebrate the success of his film "Lincoln", a co-production between his banner DreamWorks and Anil Ambani's Reliance Entertainment.

For the party at the Ambanis' residence at Cuffe Parade, Amitabh came with his wife Jaya, and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai.

India is a spiritually free country: Spielberg

Celebrated Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg on a visit to India said he finds the country beautiful and a spiritually free nation.

In India after 30 years to celebrate the success of his Civil War biopic 'Lincoln', that won two Oscars, Spielberg said that India holds a special place for him since the country makes him feel unnoticed.

"This is my first visit to India in thirty years and I am very ashamed to say that, as it means I have been essentially busy in these thirty years. I like India, I have made my third movie...parts of my third movie here, " Spielberg told NDTV.

"I basically found this country to be so free, so spiritually free. You know I used to come here in the early 80's just because I found a place that made me feel unnoticed, " he said referring to his visits to Benaras, Jaipur, and Kolkata.

Spielberg's 'Lincoln' even has an Indian connect as it was co-produced by his company DreamWorks and Anil Ambani's Reliance Entertainment.


Besides, this connection, Spielberg had shot some parts of his film 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' in India in 1977. In 1984, he also directed 'Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom', the second film in his adventure series starring Harrison Ford with Indian actors Amrish Puri and Roshan Seth.

However, the film didn't go well with the Indian audiences as it dealt with the cult of goddess Kali along with depiction of Hinduism and Indian cuisine, which included the eating of monkey brains.

Infact, Spielberg reportedly had to shoot most of the film in Sri Lanka as his permission to do so in India was cancelled.

Speaking on the Indian star system, Hollywood living legend said, "I have found that the most important star is the story you are telling. Not who you put in the story, but the story you are telling. There are some notable exceptions. I had a great story about Abraham Lincoln but that film would never have been made if it hadn't been for the great performance of Daniel Day-Lewis."

Having received Academy Award for Best Director for 'Schindler's List' and 'Saving Private Ryan', the director said he wishes to experiment by remaking a Hollywood film with an Indian director and an Indian scriptwriter.

"The experiment I'd like to conduct someday is to take an American movie and remake that film in India. Take that same story and remake that story with an Indian director and an Indian screenwriter to make the necessary adaptation, " he told the channel.

The director, who has worked with kids in films like, 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' and 'Jurassic Park', said the children of today's generation has very minimum patience and once they find something uninteresting, they move on to things like fast foods and social networking sites, which holds more importance to them.


He also said that his own kids are honest enough to comment on his films, if they find any of his films uninteresting.

"I have got 7 children at home. I direct children on screen professionally and my own children direct me at home personally. If my children see a movie of mine and they don't like it, they tell me immediately. And they never speak about that particular ever again. My children are very honest with me, " said Spielberg.

The director had also interacted with 60 directors from Bollywood, which was moderated by Indian superstar Amitabh Bachchan, at Mumbai's Taj Land's End hotel after he came to India on March 11.