The one and only Amitabh Bachchan, who turned 80 on October 11, is still working. He is still a top star. Given his busy slate, with films scheduled to release at regular intervals down the road, it is quite clear that he has no intention of bidding us farewell anytime soon. No goodbye, only ‘hello viewer, I’m back, once again, to beguile, to entertain’.
For someone who entered the Hindi film industry in 1969 with ‘Saat Hindustani’, and is still a force to reckon with, Bachchan is still the Big B, and as busy as his much younger co-stars, if not busier.
His contemporaries have either retired or have passed on. His long-running TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati is in its 14th season. Then, there are the advertisements, public service and private enterprise broadcasts, and print and television presence. His social media accounts are densely populated by his doings. At an age when most people have hung up their boots, Bachchan is indefatigable, non-stop.
With his height (too tall, said some dismissively, the moniker ‘Lambu’ had to work hard to travel from derision to affection), and his unconventional looks (not handsome enough, said others), he was not like the pretty boys that lorded over Hindi cinema at that time. In the age of the clean-cut Rajesh Khanna with his neat guru kurtas and crinkly smile, Bachchan was the classic rumpled disrupter we were waiting for.
Once he hit his stride, with the immortal troika that came out in ’74-’75 – ‘Zanjeer’, ‘Sholay’ and ‘Deewaar’ – he changed every single rule of engagement. His unsmiling visage with the long sideburns, the rage that rocketed out of the screen, those explosive moves.
He may have had a rocky stint as a parliamentarian (1984-87), where his reputation, along with his powerful friends, was sought to be tarnished. He may have been at the helm of an ambitious production house, Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (1996), which failed. He may have vanished from our sights for some time. But he is the only one of his era who reinvented himself, and came roaring back. This time to stay.
The residue of those years still reverberates in cinematic memory and our viewing DNA. As Bachchan, who has worked with yesteryear leading ladies like Waheeda Rehman to spanking new stars like Alia Bhatt, continues to stride across the screens that have metamorphosed from the raucous single screen thousands to the swish multiplex hundreds, he has become a continuum, reminding us of the time that was, and the promise of a time to come. (Indian Express inputs)
12 lesser-known facts about Big B
Amitabh Bachchan was named Inquilaab Shrivastava. However, at the suggestion of his father’s poet friend, he changed his name to what it is now.
The star has played more double roles than any other actor in Bollywood. In the film ‘Mahaan’ that was released in 1983, he even had a triple role.
The superstar has been honoured by foreign governments on multiple occasions for his contribution to cinema. His most notable was the highest civilian knight of the Legion of Honour by the French government.
In 2014, Australian La Trobe University named a Scholarship after the actor.
Big B got this name in the late 90s after his second comeback with ‘Mrityudaata’.
Amitabh is the first Asian actor to have a wax model displayed at Madame Tussauds’ in London.
Big B has played ‘Vijay’ more than 20 times. In fact, it is his favourite onscreen name.
Amitabh and his wife Jaya Bachchan got married in a hurry in 1973, on the insistence of his father, so that they could take a trip together abroad to celebrate the success of ‘Zanjeer’.
He is passionate about collecting watches and pens and his collection boasts of over thousands of pens.
The Bachchan bungalow called Jalsa was gifted by director Ramesh Sippy in lieu of payment for his performance in ‘Satte Pe Satta’.
The megastar is ambidextrous, it is a term for a person who uses both hands equally.
