New Delhi: There are certain people who should be treated with respect, always. The traditional Indian society keeps a check on its youngsters whether or not they are paying proper respect to people such as Sachin Tendulkar, Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachchan. The kind of respect these people enjoy is unthinkable for many prominent thinkers and politicians.
Slowly and steadily, Amitabh Bachchan has completed 70 years and out of these 53 have been spent in front of the camera. After all these hyper-active years, the actor still keeps the feeling of ‘been there, done that’ at bay.
Once someone closely associated with the Bachchans told me about Amitabh Bachchan’s penchant for testing his own capabilities. Despite being on the tougher side of age, Big B maintains a hard regime. Once a newspaper carried a story that how nothing can affect Big B when he is on shoot. He can shoot in severe heat as well as in harsh cold. Nothing misses his eyes unless he himself wants to avoid it.
I remember the time when ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ started. Just one year ago, in 1999, Big B was doing films such as ‘Laal Baadshah’ and ‘Kohram’ and a part of his acting included dancing with heroines like Shilpa Shetty and Manisha Koirala. His critics were after him and he was under pressure to maintain his superstar status in an age when Khans were rising to the prominence. One can just imagine the kind of pressure Big B was enjoying in a period where he was no more the strong 30 year old ‘Deewar’ hero. However, ‘KBC’ restored people’s faith in him.
The childhood memories of ‘bhisoom’ started and ended on ‘Amita Bachchan’ (Nobody ever pronounced his full name). The angry young man had become calmer before I took complete charge of my senses. He had already fought the much publicized Allahabad election and was witnessing the after-effects of being a famous face.
Despite films like ‘Toofan’, ‘Ajooba’ and ‘Jaadugar’, the man was ruling hearts because he was not ready to compromise on his acting prowess. Farmers were still managing to arrive to cinema halls in large numbers in nearest towns and cities.
Congress led governments kept generating revenues by featuring Amitabh Bachchan’s films on prime time. ‘Coolie’ and ‘Mard’ remained the highest attention fetcher films.
Recently, when he was admitted to hospital for abdominal surgery, people became so concerned about his health that the megastar had to tweet from the hospital.
Several social commentators have been seen quoting the scenes from Amitabh’s films to explain the social scenarios. It’s true that he is no longer the most influential actor of Bollywood when it comes to have an impact on the society, but he has infused his spirit in at least four generations who are still deciding the fate of the country in one or the other way.
One more thing, probably there wouldn’t be another actor who will be as significant as Big B at the age of 70. Happy birthday Amitabh Bachchan, the ultimate superstar of Bollywood.
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