Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan (Amitabh Harivansh Srivastav), born on October 11, 1942 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh is one of the most prominent Indian film actors of Bollywood. Amitabh Bachchan is known for his deep, baritone voice. He before entering the film industry applied for a job with All India Radio for the post of a news announcer, for which he was rejected – probably a destiny’s call. The actor also did Playback Singing for The Great Gambler, Mr. Natwarlal, Lawaaris, Naseeb, Silsila, Mahaan, Pukar, Sharaabi, Toofan, Jaadugar, Khuda Gawah, Major Saab, Sooryavansham, Aks, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Aankhen, Armaan, Baghban, Dev, Aetbaar, Baabul, Nishabd, Cheeni Kum, Bhoothnath.

Amitabh Bachchan has been a narrator, a playback singer film producer, presenter for numerous programmes, and Television anchor. He was also elected member of the Indian Parliament from 1984 to 1987. The actor Amitabh Bachchan holds the record for the most number of Best Actor nominations at the Filmfare Awards and has won three National Film Awards and twelve Filmfare Awards to date.

Mile stone 1 – Saat Hindustani and Anand

Bachchan made his film debut in 1969 in Saat Hindustani, a film directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. Though the film was not a financial success but Bachchan won his first National Film Award for Best Newcomer. In 1971 was awarded Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance in Anand. In 1973 director Prakash Mehra cast him in the leading role for the film Zanjeer as Inspector Vijay Khanna which established Amitabh as the angry young man of Bollywood. Later Bachchan played the role of Vikram in the film Namak Haraam, a social drama directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and scripted by Biresh Chatterjee addressing themes of friendship. In 1975 he acted in a variety of film genres from the comedy Chupke Chupke, the crime drama Faraar to the romantic drama Mili. However 1975 was the year when he appeared in two landmark films of Hindi cinematic history – Deewar and Sholay.

Mile stone 2 – Sholay and Amar Akbar Anthony

After the phenomenal success of Sholay, Bachchan had consilidated his position in the industry. In between 1976 and 1984 he receive an unprecedented number of Filmfare Best Actor Award Awards and nominations. Sholay cemented Amitabh status as Bollywood’s pre-eminent action hero but he was flexible with roles. He played the romantic lead in Kabhie Kabhie and comic in Amar Akbar Anthony and Chupke Chupke. In 1977 he won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in Amar Akbar Anthony. 1978 was possibly the most remarkable year of his career and he starred in all four of the highest grossing films of India in that year. In 1979 for the first time, Amitabh was required to use his singing voice for the film Mr. Natwarlal. His performance in the film saw him nominated for both the Filmfare Best Actor Award and the Filmfare Best Male Playback Awards.

Mile stone 3 – Injury during filming Coolie

The fatal injury of 1982 while filming Coolie was the turning point in Amitabh’s film career. Amitabh while shooting for the film had taken the liberty to perform his own stunts. In one of the scene he was required to fall onto a table and then on the ground. However as he jumped towards the table, the corner of the table struck his abdomen. He was operated and remained critically ill in hospital for many months, and at times was close to death. This was the time when world realized Amitabh’s star power.

The film was released in 1983 and partly due to the huge publicity of Amitabh’s accident the film was a great boxoffice success. Amitabh’s illness made him feel weak both mentally and physically and he decided to quit films and venture into politics.

Mile stone 4 – Politics and Retirement

In 1984, Amitabh took a break from acting and briefly entered politics in support of long-time family friend Rajiv Gandhi. He contested Allahabad’s Lok Sabha seat against H. N. Bahuguna, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and won by highest victory margin in general election history (68.2% of the vote). However, in 1987 he resigned after three years, leaving his term incomplete.

In 1988, Bachchan returned to films after a three year stint in politics and played the title role in Shahenshah, which was a box office success but his subsequent films failed. In 1990 he won his second National Film Award for Agneepath. In 1991 Hum looked like it might reverse this trend, but it did not happened and after the release of Khuda Gawah in 1992, Bachchan went into semi-retirement for five years.

Mile stone 5 – Producer and Actor

Amitabh Bachchan turned producer during his temporary retirement period and setup Amitabh Bachchan Corporation, Ltd. (A.B.C.L.) in 1996 with the vision of becoming a 10 billion rupees premier entertainment company by the year 2000. ABCL’s operations included film production, film distribution, production and marketing of television software, celebrity management, and event management. The first film produced by the company was Tere Mere Sapne which failed to do well at the boxoffice. ABCL produced a few other films viz. Ullasam, Mrityudaata, Major Saab, Aks, Viruddh none of which worked at boxoffice. ABCL was the main sponsor of the 1996 Miss World beauty pageant, Bangalore and lost millions due to the poor management of the event. Bachchan later attempted to revive his acting career and had average success with Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and received positive reviews for Sooryavansham.

Mile Stone 6 – Television career and Return to prominence

In 2000, Amitabh stepped up to host, Kaun Banega Crorepati. The program piggyback on Amitabh’s charisma gained intense success. It strengthened Amitabh and his family financially and morally after the ABCL’s collapse. In 2000, Amitabh regained his prominence when he appeared in Yash Chopra’s box-office super hit, Mohabbatein directed by Aditya Chopra. The films like Ek Rishtaa, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham,Aks, Aankhen, Khakee, Dev, Black, Bunty Aur Babli, Sarkar, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Baabul, Eklavya, Nishabd, Cheeni Kum and Shootout at Lokhandwala were few of he film which established him again. As an actor, he continued to exploit a range of characters suiting with his profile, receiving critical acclaim for his performances. His first English language film Rituparno Ghosh’s The Last Lear premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2007 for which he received positive reviews from critics.

Family and Friends

Bachchan is married to Jaya Bhaduri also an actress. They have two children, Shweta Nanda,and Abhishek Bachchan, who is also an actor in Bollywood and is married to Aishwarya Rai. He sees great friends in Anil Ambani and Amar Singh.

Amar Singh helped him during a financial crisis due to the failure of his company ABCL. Anil Ambani’s Reliance Big Entertainment and Amitabh Bachchan got into the deal which could be worth $200m-$300m (final figure is not yet known). The new venture would look after film production, television series, reality shows, internet and mobile content besides live shows.