Amitabh Bachchan birthday special: Rare, unseen images of the megastar
‘Shahenshah', the living legend, Amitabh Bachchan, has turned 77 today.
When the flick released, Amitabh took his parents to see the film in Delhi's 'Shiela Cinema' where he had seen many a show as a college-student after bunking lectures.
The flick won Big B the National Award for Best Newcomer in 1970. But despite this initial breakthrough, it wasn't a cake walk for the tall, dark but not conventionally handsome Amitabh.
The year 1971 saw six films that featured Big B, including the Rajesh Khanna-starrer Anand that won Amitabh Bachchan the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance as Dr Bhaskar Banerjee, the Bengali doctor fondly referred to as 'Babu Moshai' by Rajesh Khanna's Anand Sehgal.
But even Anand failed to change the fortunes of Big B. He did some more of those bit roles and again took the microphone as a narrator in the Rajesh Khanna starrer Bawarchi (1972).
He missed some brilliant films, including the 1973 film Saudagar alongside Nutan and Padma Khanna.
But it was in 1973 that he reborn as an 'Angry Young Man' in Prakash Mehra's Zanjeer. And there was no going back for this passionate man.
Prakash Mehra had first offered 'Zanjeer' to Dharmendra, Dev Anand and Rajkumar and only when they all rejected the offer was picked by Amitabh.
That was the turning point of his career. Before the offer, dejected Bachchan famously almost took the train back to Allahabad, After Zanjeer's success, he and Jaya planned a holiday abroad. Amitabh's father, when told about the plan, said they should get first married and go and finally they promptly got married.
Amitabh and Jaya Bhaduri first met in FTII, Pune; after which they met on the sets of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 'Guddi.' Next came Abhimaan, in which the newly-wed couple was cast together as singers who fall in love but are separated by jealousy.
Many saw a reflection of their personal life in the movie. The music and the film were both appreciated by the audience.
But Zanjeer and Deewaar were both eclipsed by what is the defining film of Indian cinema as well its biggest blockbuster, ”Sholay”.
The high voltage performances, the fascinating action, Salim-Javed's story and the larger than life Gabbar Singh made Sholay the legendary movie it is, taking Big B to the highest rung of the filmi ladder.
The 1976 movie “Do Anjaane” saw Amitabh Bachchan paired with Rekha, a combination that was about to give many more hits in the years to come.
While they set the silver screen on fire with their on-screen chemistry, rumours of an unacknowledged off-screen romance lingered for years.
While Mr Bachchan's reported disloyalty continued to make headlines, Yash Chopra managed to do the impossible. He brought together the rumoured pati, patni aur woh trio - Amitabh, Jaya and Rekha - to act together in his movie Silsila in 1981, playing the roles they had allegedly assumed in real life.
This was Big B and Rekha's last movie together.
The actor's association with Yash Chopra delivered big successes such Deewaar, Kabhie Kabhie and Trishul, but their off-beat take on the Chasnala mining disaster of 1975 - Kaala Patthar , didn't quite match up to the earlier successes.
During the 1980s, Amitabh was also the inspiration for a comic and its superhero, 'Supremo'. The series was called 'The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan' went on for almost two years.
Even in 2000's Big B was just unstoppable, as he gave numerous hits like Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham, Mohobbatein, Raj, Baghban, Cheeni Kum, Paa, Bhootnath, while Sanjay eela Bhansali's “Black” won him again the best Actor's Award, leaving behind the today's age actors.
Sarkar Raj, the sequel of the 2005 film Sarkar, released in June 2008 did well at the box-office. Paa, which released in the year 2009 was highly appreciated as it saw him playing his own son Abhishek's Progeria-affected 13-year-old son and it also got rave reviews, particularly for Big B's performance. It won him his third National Film Award for Best Actor and fifth Filmfare Best Actor Award.
The superstar will surely give more and more appearances in many more movies to come. We wishe this legend a very Happy Birthday.