Big B spins charkha at Sabarmati Ashram

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan walked barefoot and spun the charkha (spinning wheel) at Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad where he is shooting for the second phase of advertisements for Gujarat Tourism.

The 67-year-old megastar felt that "serenity and peace descended" upon him and his team as they entered the Ashram where Mahatma Gandhi lived and "from where was born the idea of his struggle for the freedom of our country - of sacrifice, non violence and resolve".

A few scenes for the advertisement for Gujarat Tourism required him to walk around the region in a contemplative mood and he duly did so by removing his shoes.

"I removed my shoes by the road and walked about barefoot, even though all others do not. It is not required that they do so but I could not somehow make myself to not go barefoot. The sanctity and the purity of the premises just prompted me to do it," Bachchan posted on his blog.

He even spun the charkha.

"I sat with the lone figure of an inmate of the trust that runs the ashram as he spun the ‘charkha’ and produced the fibre for khadi. I tried my hand at it. It is a simple yet intricate procedure of weaving the thread and the extreme joy of having been so close to that most identifiable element of the Mahatma, overpowered all other thoughts," added Big B, who is the brand ambassador for Gujarat.