Whenever I encounter that question prompt for password retrieval “Who is your favourite Superstar”, I find myself typing in the same answer every time “AB”. For the millions of Indians who grew up in India in the seventies and the eighties, the myth of #AmitabhBachchan continues to reign supreme. You can call him the Shahenshah or Superstar, but truth be told, he enjoys cult status because he embodies the struggle, tribulations and success that the ordinary man grew up with in a country that was evolving. The only difference, of course, was that it was all in 70mm for the Big B.
A couple of years ago, I was having lunch with #SiddarthBasu at the Masala Klub restaurant at the Taj Westend in Bangalore. He talked about how the team working on #KaunBanegaCrorepati zeroed in on Amitabh for the role of the anchor. Yes, the name and persona worked magic, but the real reason AB was a perfect fit is that he embodied the hope and aspirations of the Indian public. Who but AB could lend credibility to that hand extended to the common man to uplift him from poverty and make his dreams come true? AB had come from nowhere, seen unprecedented success as well as failure and stood tall for how values and work ethics could come out tops in life. It was the year 2000 and there was no one who could be a better fit for that chair!
Born in 1942, he was names Inquilab Srivastava. Sumitranandan Pant the renowned poet persuaded his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan to change the name to Amitabh. The actor later took on the family pen name as his surname. For those who love trivia, he struggled to become an actor, being repeatedly rejected by producers for being “too thin, and too tall”. He had tried working with a Shipping company, then Shaw Wallace and was also rejected by All India Radio. Quite something for someone whose diction over spoken Hindi and whose sonorous baritone is recognised all over the country.
He made his debut in 1969 with Saat Hindustani, a black and white film where his tall lanky brooding looks were noticed. He won the Best Supporting Actor opposite Rajesh Khanna in 1971 in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anand. Apparently, he was all set to wrap up and go back when Prakash Mehra offered him Zanjeer. The Angry Young man was born! Over the next couple of years, he went on to act in Namak Haraam, Deewaar and Sholay bulding on that image and firing the imagination of millions of Indians.
The positioning of the angry young man worked like magic in the India of the Seventies. The euphoria of independence had come to a close and the socialist politics of Nehruvian India was not providing enough opportunities for the young people. Unemployment was rife and entrepreneurship was not fancied as much as it is today. People who dreamt of becoming industrialists and growing their businesses were seething with the red-tape of the babus. It was around this time that Bachchan with his tall, dark and not-so-handsome persona burst on to the scene proclaiming “Line wahi se shuru hoti hai jahan hum khade hain”
One thing that stood out about Bachchan’s angry young man was that the anger was never vile or uncultured. It was genuine, refined and borne out of belief. And that helped the young man mature into the romantic hero in #KabhieKabhie (1976), #AmarAkbarAnthony (1977), #Don (1978), #MuqaddarkaSikander (1978) and #Trishul in 1979. There was action, drama and emotion and the hero was not just a rebel. He stood up for his woman or his mother, made friends and was there for a purpose.
In the eighties, Bachchan’s screen persona matured and the roles became weightier, the romantic love interest was significant, and the greys started showing. #Silsila (1980), #SattepeSatta (1982), #NamakHalal (1982) and Coolie in 1983 had roles that were more layered almost as if the burden of family life and arrived.
Around this time, Ramesh Sippy and the Salim-Javed combine joined hands with Bachchan to release #Shakti pitting the superstar against thespian #DilipKumar. I consider #Shakti as Bachchan’s best film till date. Political and Social upheaval were gaining currency in the society and the wounds of Indira Gandhi’s emergency were yet to heal. The average citizen was torn between their political masters and people started asking questions of themselves. #Shakti epitomized the conflict within; it was about the choices of morality and duty. The villain was no more an external being. One of the most poignant scenes in that film was #DalipTahil pretending to over-look the young boy playing Bachchan and letting him free from the kidnappers. All this, while his father, a strict police officer took the moral high ground and refused to yield to the kidnapper’s demands. Bachchan grows up to join the kidnappers and the fire within himself doesn’t let him reconcile with his parents. Call it generation gap or call it the spirit of rebellion; young people were prepared to cross the line to further their interests and this conflicted starkly with the monochrome view of ethics that their parents upheld.
Coolie and the accident on the sets happened in 1982. Punit Issar was the villain in that film. Millions came together to pray for their beloved hero. The crowds outside Breach Candy Hospital in Juhu kept vigil through the night for the man who had given a face to their dreams. Bachchan recovered but contracted cirrhosis of the liver and this is a condition that has plagued him since. He has been reticent on his health, but it does appear that he has been functioning on a liver that is only at half of its peak. A collateral fallout of the treatment was a condition called Myasthenia gravis which is an immunity condition.
Political events moved fast. Operation Blue Star in Punjab, followed by the assassination of Mrs Gandhi led to her son, Rajiv become an unwilling candidate for the Prime Minister’s position. Bachchan gave in to his friend’s pleas and joined politics. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Allahabad, defeating Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna. However, politics turned out to be an uneasy crown for the superstar and embroiled him into controversy.
Bachchan returned to cinema in the early nineties with #Agneepath (1990) and #Hum (1991). After the initial success, there came a string of flops as age had caught up and the wrinkles and the expanding mid-riff started showing.
In 1996, Bachchan set up ABCL, a production house with a diverse agenda. The business collapsed badly and pushed him to the verge of bankruptcy. At that stage, his film career as well as his commercial aspirations had both reached an end. People started writing him off even as the Khan triumvirate emerged as the new heroes of the millennials.
KBC turned around the career, fortunes and brand image of Amitabh Bachchan like magic. He was seen as the perfect patriarch who could be trusted to hand over the cheque and enable the ordinary man to change his destiny. The fact that Bachchan himself had seen the highs and lows of life made him even more credible. The show could not have picked anyone better for being the host.
Fast forward to 2000 and Bachchan started playing character roles with gusto. #Mohabattein (2000), #Baghbaan (2003) and #Black (2005) provided him a platform to establish the second runway as the teacher, husband and family elder with a message.
While the roles and characters changed for the better, some things remained the same. Bachchan is renowned for his preparation, work ethics, discipline and punctuality. His professionalism became folk-lore in an industry considered to be dominated by coteries, rampant favouritism and unprofessional ways of working. Bachchan became the first Indian actor to be featured at Madame Tussauds. He made up for his lack of dancing skills with his comic touch, gravitas and meaningful roles.
With the years, he moved to experimenting with characters. Paa (2009), Shamitabh (2015), Piku (2015), Pink (2016) gave him opportunities to try his hand at uncharacteristic roles that were acclaimed by his fans. He was back and here to stay. Producers began to cast him in roles that were tailor-made for him. Fans started accepting him in roles that only he could pull off with aplomb. This year 2020 saw the OTT release of Gulabo-Sitabo where he outdoes his performances with an elan that only he can bring to the screen. Along the way, he starred opposite Mohanlal in his first Malayalam film #MajorRavi in 2010 and also made his Hollywood debut opposite #LeonardodiCaprio in #TheGreatGatsby.
Bachchan took to social media like a pro and fans are hooked on to his tweets. He is vocal about social, economic and political issues and is an opinion leader and influencer for society at large. What is that one role I would love him to play? Perhaps something like #TheIntern where he can do the #RobertDiNiro to an Indian start-up dabbling in Artificial Intelligence?
The story of Amitabh Bachchan is not all about the glitz and glamour. It is the story of a man who has seen the highs of stardom and the lows of health, finances and reputation. It is a story of comebacks, a story of persisting with conviction in the face of adversity and living up to one’s convictions. His life has mirrored the trials and tribulations of countless Indians and in spite of his larger-than-life image, it is a story that people can relate to. And draw hope and belief. The myth of #AmitabhBachchan is so pervasive and touches all of us Indians so innately because over the last half a century, it is in a sense the story of the nation itself!
