'I am protective about Dad' 
Shweta Nanda

How can I say why my father is so special? He just is. He's extremely... I don't have words to define it. 

I am so overwhelmed. One thinks it is a personal celebration and we are so overwhelmed as a family that people cannot contain their affection. Isn't this brilliant[she looks around the room at Mumbai's J W Marriott Hotel, where her mother Jaya has called a press conference to present her gift to Amitabh Bachchan -- a biographhy called To Be Or Not To Be. She looks at people cluttered around her father. 

I have no words. I am trying to think aloud. 

Shweta Nanda is the daughter of movie stalwarts Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and sister to Abhishek Bachchan.

She is married to industrialist, Nikhil Nanda, the son of Ritu and Rajan Nanda, and the grandson of film legend Raj Kapoor. Both are Delhi based and have two children, Navya Naveli and Agastya Nanda.

Nikil Nanda
Nikhil Nanda - Executive Director& Chief Operating Office,, Escorts Group 

As Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Escorts Group, Mr. Nikhil Nanda has the overall responsibility for managing the Group’s agri, construction and engineering businesses. Together with business heads, he is leading the corporation’s campaign to transform its culture towards efficiency and aggressive growth. 

Mr. Nanda has been actively involved in day-to-day operations of the company since he took over as its Executive Director in May 2000. As a member of the core group responsible for strategizing the group initiatives, he was also responsible for developing, recommending and executing an overall financial strategy for the Group aiming at capturing maximum value for its shareholders. Prior to assuming the position of the Executive Director, Mr. Nanda had been a Director on the Board of Escorts Ltd. since 1997. 

Mr. Nanda had joined the Group as Director, Business Development, of Escorts Yamaha Motor Ltd. (EYML), in 1998 and was responsible for formulating the joint venture agreement with Yamaha Motor Company and strategy for the motorcycle business. He was also involved in new product selection, preparation of marketing strategies as well as vendor consolidation. Later, as Joint Managing Director of EYML, Mr. Nanda initiated business process re-engineering for the company and played a key role in finalizing a labour agreement, which led to 30% increase in productivity and substantial manpower reduction.

Mr. Nanda is among five Indians selected as the Global Leaders of Tomorrow for the year 2001 by the World Economic Forum, Geneva. 

He also sits on the boards of several other Group companies, namely, Escorts Construction Equipment Ltd., Escosoft Technologies Ltd., Escorts Finance & Investment Pvt. Ltd., Escolife Pvt. Ltd., Escorts Securities Ltd., Escotoonz Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., and Escorts Agrimachinery Inc., U.S.A 
Mr. Nanda is a member of Indo American Chambers of Commerce, high-level strategic group constituted by All India Management Association, Young India Committee of CII and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry.

Born in March 1974, Mr. Nikhil Nanda is an alumnus of Wharton Business School, Philadelphia. Having graduated in Business Administration in 1995, he majored in Management and Marketing, before undergoing professional training with JC Bamford Excavators Ltd., U.K.

 

What a Feeling!: Shweta Nanda
“I don’t remember much about my early childhood but am constantly told that I was pampered. Being the first grandchild I was special after all. We lived in a small house called Mangal… and it was jut mama, papa and me there.”

“I am quite objective about papa on the screen because I don’t think that’s my father acting. In my view he is an artiste and so far removed from the person I know at home. I can’t relate to the man on the screen. However this kind of feeling does not extend to my mother. I cannot watch her on screen. When she is there, she is still my mother and anything she goes through is real.”

There is so much happening -- this book launch, Tirupati [the family had flown down to the religious shrine at Tirupati a day before Amitabh's 60th birthday], this media thing... He has just got back from Mauritius [where Amitabh is shooting for Honey Irani's Armaan]. Everyone has flown in for him. 

We have had a wonderful life, a wonderful childhood. He is the foundation of our family. 

I am very, very protective about him. All of us are. 

You know how he is. Dad is a recluse, but he has never kept away from people who have wanted to meet him. 

I remember once mum had cut my hair. Dad was very upset. He even gets upset when mum does anything to her hair. He tells me what colours I should wear and what makeup I should use. He has always been involved with us to the minutest detail. 

He has been a very indulgent father yet firm. He strikes a perfect balance. He never overdoes it. 

And he is overjoyed to be a grandfather. Can't you tell? [Amitabh carries grandson Agastya and listens to granddaughter Navya Naveli as she patters into his ear] 

When Navya was born, he couldn't stop smiling. I am so glad he wasn't there for the labour. He gets panicky and he would have made my life miserable. 

But he was there for my son's birth and he actually filmed me in the operation theatre. 

He and my son are still discovering each other. My son is not yet two and my daughter will soon be five. 

It is great the way they relate to each other. 

Dad insisted I bring them to Tirupati. He said I would not have to look after them. He would. He actually flew with them, entertained them all through the journey. 

We have been great believers of Tirupati. Whenever we find time, we head there. We are a very religious family. My father is a very religious man, so it was a nice way to bring in his birthday. 

He likes to spend time with his family. 

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be his daughter. I want to live up to the kind of human being he is. It has nothing to do with his screen presence or the kind of adulation he commands. But as a human being. 

I would like to be to my parents what Dad has been to his. He sets very high standards for all of us. Hopefully, we are getting there.
Shweta Nanda - Koffee with Karan....
Shweta Nanda with Brett Lee.........

..............Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter Shweta Nanda a heroine..........

Shweta Bachchan to host TV show
March 05, 2007
She is the only Bachchan on whom very little is written about. The only time she steps into the limelight is when she accompanies her family. The last time she was noticeably in the spotlight was when she visited the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi with her family and soon-to-be sister-in-law Aishwarya Rai on November 26. 
Now, Shweta Nanda is hosting a television chat show called NextGen on NDTV Profit. 
What prompted her to do the show? "Many things have settled down in life now. My children have grown up and NDTV Profit is very accommodating with my schedule. So I said yes," she says.
The first guests on the show will be Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan, sons of sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. 
"My show will be on Gen X," says Shweta. "Today's youth have a go-getter attitude; they are outspoken and ambitious. I will bring guests from different fields of art, literature, sports, films, fashion and business." 
The last time Shweta, who is married to industrialist Nikhil Nanda, did a show on television was on NDTV's rival channel CNN-IBN where she donned the role of a citizen journalist and did a documentary on the Save the Dolphin campaign. 

So what is a day like in Shweta Bachchan's life? "It is a very ordinary day," she says with a smile. "I eat breakfast, take kids to school, surf the Net... Even now, I'm thinking that I need to rush to catch a flight to New Delhi to be with my kids. 
"I have always wanted to have children," she continues. "Acting was never on my mind though I grew up in front of camera. Even today, I don't want to be an actress. Of course, I have passed my age to be an actress now! 
"I am a very shy person but I love talking to people I know," Shweta says. "So, when the offer came to me, I thought why not give it a try? Let's see how this experience goes."
Her favourite chat shows are those hosted by Oprah Winfrey, Larry King and Barbara Walters. Closer home, she loves Karan Johar's Koffee With Karan and Shah Rukh Khan's Kaun Banega Crorepati.
"I watch KBC when I get the time and I like it," she says.

How did Amitabh and Abhishek react to her new role? "They were very supportive and told me to take up the offer," Shweta says. "The advice they gave me was to make the camera my friend and always relax." 
Shweta refuses to answer when Abhishek will marry Aishwarya. All she says is, "Ash is a nice person. I am happy for them."

Shweta Nanda with Brett Lee

Shweta Nanda - Koffee with Karan....

Narora (Uttar Pradesh): Dolphins are a dying species in the Ganga today because of pollution or being trapped in fishermen's nets. With only a few thousand left, scientists from the World Wide Fund for Nature are doing their best to save these gentle creatures. Citizen Journalist Shweta Bachchan Nanda finds out what is being done to save river dolphins and her first stop is an ashram besides the holy river as it crosses UP's Narora.
Sadhus and pandits have lived on the banks of the river for centuries and stories about the Ganga and the dolphins have been handed down over the years.
“The Ganga is a holy river and so are the creatures in it. We tell everyone to respect and protect them,” a pandit says.

Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter Shweta Nanda a heroine