Amitabh Bachchan at 80-plus an incontrovertible’ Legend’ of Bollywood
Amitabh Bachchan at 80-plus
an incontrovertible’ Legend’ of Bollywood
Incontrovertibly Amitabh Bachchan at 80+ continues to rule as ‘Shahenshah’ of Bollywood. For him age is just a number. Whereas other actors of his age rested, the senior Bachchan prefers notwithstanding his age and health status.
There are actors, there are stars, legends and superstars… but there is one Amitabh Bachchan.
One need to take one’s hat off to this ‘living testament’
of acting’ and wish him for a long, healthy and happy life.
The legend’s ‘voice’ is his identity. When he appears onscreen and says, “Deviyon aur Sajjanon! Swaagat hai aapka Kaun Banega Crorepati mein…,” it’s difficult not to pay attention to the 6-feet tall
virtuosity
Whether you are a young or a old, you can’t say you are not an Amitabh Bachchan fan. Being
avowed ‘Big B’ zealot is a religion in itself.
He has enticed the women,
entranced the men; immersed the classes and entertained the masses. He has done it all and still is, as his Twitter bio says, “Actor…atleast some still think so”. The ‘act’ in actor is defined by his exemplary work in the movies.
It was in the year 1942, on October 11, that Inquilaab Bachchan was born to poet Harivanshrai Bachchan in Allahabad. And true to his name, he lived ‘Inquilaab’ through all the years of his life.
Today, in a career spanning over four decades, Amitabh Bachchan stands on the pedestal of success. But the journey till here hasn’t been all a cake walk for him. He has faced hard times, silently went through them, but there was he, standing and battling them all.
While he embarked in his acting career, he lent his voice as a narrator for movies and was a narrator for Satyajit Ray’s ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’. It was his baritone voice that gave him the required push in the industry; the same voice which was once rejected by the All India Radio for it was ‘not suitable for radio’.
Having started the Bollywood career with a National award winning performance in ‘Saat Hindustani’, he was forgotten soonafter. He took up small but prominent roles in films like ‘Anand’ and ‘Namak Haraam’ a pace with the then superstar Rajesh Khanna that brought him in the public glare.He bagged the Filmfare award for the Best Supporting Actor for ‘Anand’, that was both critically acclaimed and commercially.
successful.
His life took a transformation and the 1973 Prakash Mehra’s directorial “Zanjeer” redefined his career.
There wasn’t a looking back for this actor after ‘Zanjeer’ which gave him the ‘Angry Young Man’ tag. Zanjeer’s blockbuster success spelt a new dawn, not only for Amitabh but also for the industry who got its angry young man. Actors till then were just lover boys.
Amitabh also found his lady love in Jaya Bhaduri, while filming the movie. He later married her and the rest was history. Love blossomed amidst the making of ‘Abhimaan’ (a Hrishikesh Mukherjee directorial that released a month after their wedding.
Amitabh Bachchan has worked with the best of directors and actors in the Indian film fraternity and by the time the 70s ended, he was a one man army in the industry. People would rush to the theatres to watch him, regardless of which actress he was working with or of which genre the movie was.
Films Namak Haraam, Deewaar, Anand, Abhimaan, Sharaabi, Mili, Trishul, Silsila, Kabhi Kabhi and Sholay are watched till date and films like ‘Agneepath’ ‘Don’ Zanjeer, were remade but none matched the original versions!
When, in ‘Sholay’, he died as Jai on screen, the audiences cried; while, in ‘Deewaar’, he essayed the anti-hero role, people started loving the villains more. Such was the Bachchan’s impact.
He was at his romantic best in ‘Kabhi Kabhi’, ‘Abhimaan’ and ‘Silsila’. “Main aur meri tanhaayi” and “Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein khyaal aata hai” are till date the anthem for lovers. And it’s partly because of the way Amitabh Bachchan rendered those lines.
He showed his comic side in movies like ‘Chupke Chupke’, ‘Namak Halaal’ and ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ and there too he was at par with every other stalwart in the frame.
In 1982, while amidst shoot for the famous scene of ‘Namak Halaal’, where his character, Arjun Singh, tries to impress his boss by speaking English, director Prakash Mehra told him to speak whatever he wanted to. Amitabh Bachchan had a knack of doing things differently. He wanted the entire team to vacate the studio room in which they were shooting, with only the required people allowed to stay back. He, then, gave an impromptu recital of the ‘Vijay Merchant – Vijay Hazare’ cricket commentary and stunned everybody present. No scripts, no lines. Spontaneity has always been his strength.
A minor incident happened amidst shoot for the Manmohan Desai’s directorial “Coolie” in Bangalore(now Bengaluru) when he was seriously injured amidst a fight sequence.Fans went berserk. But even this injury couldn’t keep the people’s actor away from them. He returned to the screen to shine even brighter. This was termed as his re-birth.
Amitabh Bachchan always lived up to his commitments, come what may. The particular one that comes to mind is an incident during the shooting of ‘Sharaabi’. He had burnt his hands, but being absolute professional, he continued to shoot by putting his hand in the pocket of his blazer. Everything he did, became a fashion statement, so this hand-in-pocket also went on to emerged as a fashion trend, which continues till now.
The man had tasted immense success till the 80s, but then a series of failures crept in. Newer actors paved their way to the industry.
It was his acquintance with Rajiv Gandhi, that led him to contest elections but badly failed.
He established his own production house.The movies he made under his production house – ABCL – ‘Mrityudata’ etc proved a debacle. His company also hosted the Miss World contest which also led to his failure and his company went bankrupt and subsequently he was embroiled in legal battles and had authorities hounding over him for tax recovery.
He was christened ‘Shahenshah’ for a reason. He fought back, showed resilience.
And then arrived his true rebirth, in the realest sense. ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, the Indian version of the television game show ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’, the legendary actor returned. His screen presence, charisma, ability to connect with the audience, charm and most importantly, his baritone weaved magic saw him back with a bang.
It’s also learned he had met Yash Chopra for work and got ‘Mohabbatein’, directed by Aditya Chopra, in 2000. Then came Karan Johar’s ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ that catapulted him back to the super stardom.
With movies like ‘Baghban’, ‘Black’, and ‘Paa’ among others, he showed why there was invented the dialogue ‘rishtey mein toh hum tumhaare baap hotey hain.’ He is certainly the ‘baap’ of acting. ‘Black’ and ‘Paa’ got him another set of National awards. His tenure as the KBC host and fiction stint with tele-serial ‘Yudh’ have made him cynosure of TV watching eyes too.
Amitabh Bachchan goes beyond the tangles of regionalism. At present, he endorses tourism for three states in India – Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Kerala.
He goes beyond admiring the regular. Impressed with Kangana Ranaut’s portrayal of ‘Rani’ in the movie ‘Queen’, Big B sent her a bouquet of flowers with a hand written note, as a mark of appreciation.
He goes beyond Bollywood. He was conferred with the Honorary Citizenship of the French town of Deauville in 2003. He was also honoured with an Honorary Doctorate from the Leeds Metropolitan University in Yorkshire, UK, the De Montfort University in Leicester, UK and the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.
He dislikes the term Bollywood. He says he finds it shameful for India. It’s not Bollywood, it’s Indian Film Industry. And we agree.
He is an inspiration to all. Ajay ‘Singham’ Devgn was once quoted saying, “While we were shooting for ‘Bol Bachchan’ title song, I wasn’t keeping well and so was Amitji. But he was so energtic throughout. That gave me the inspiration to put in my 100% as well.”
You may love a particular actor, or might hate him, but there’s nobody who dares to dislike Amitabh Bachchan.
Not only the common man, the other people in the business are also bewitched by him. When Parineeti Chopra was asked the name of the movie star who leaves her awestruck, the only name she said was Amitabh Bachchan. In the popular comedy show ‘Comedy Nights With Kapil’, when Big B was the special guest, the host of the show, Kapil Sharma, didn’t take his seat for most part of the show, out of respect for the megastar.
Amitabh Bachchan’s life teaches us many a thing – how not to lose hope in the face of adversity, how to believe in yourself and how to still keep your family united when your personal life comes under scanner. He has seen it all, he has dealt with it all, and yet emerged as the winner.
Be it any role – a husband, a dad, a grand-dad, a friend, a guide – he plays it all to perfection. National awards, Wax Statue at London’s Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, Honorary doctorates, the Knight of the Legion of Honour, people’s love, respect and loyalty – all of this and counting!
News Edit K.V.Raman
