Amitabh Bachchan : The ‘Shahenshah’
of Bollywood
Amitabh Bachchan -- the ‘Shahenshah’ of Bollywood was born to
well-known poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Teji Bachchan in Allahabad on
October 11, 1942. Amitabh went to Sherwood College, a boarding school in
Nainital, and then to Kirori Mal College in Delhi University where he earned
a double MA. The elder son of Harivansh Rai Bachchan was a former stage
actor, radio announcer and freight company executive in Shaw Wallace in
Calcutta, before coming to the land of dreams, Bombay Mumbai. He had to
struggle a lot in Bollywood because of his unconventional looks and his
height. At 6’3”, he was considered far too tall by the filmmakers.
Lights...Camera...Action
Ultimately, it was K A Abbas who gave Amitabh his first break in ‘Saat
Hindustani’ (1969). But the film failed miserably, with Bachchan going
almost unnoticed.
It was on the sets of B R Ishara’s ‘Ek Nazar’ (1972) that
Amitabh and Jaya Bhaduri realized that they were in love with each other.
They married soon after.
It was his 13th film 'Zanjeer’, directed by Prakash Mehra, which
catapulted Amitabh to fame. Amitabh introduced the motif of the 'angry young
man' to Indian cinema.Bachchan essayed a fantastic range of ‘off-beat’
roles under the direction of veteran Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Apart from ‘Anand’
and ‘Namak Haraam’, he gave standout performances in ‘Abhimaan’
(1973) ‘Mili’ (1975), ‘Chupke Chupke’ (1975), ‘Jurmana’
(1979) and ‘Bemisaal’ (1982).
Amitabh proved his versatality and scored in all types of roles be it the
sensitive romances of Yash Chopra (Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Silsila (1981)) or
the entertainers of Manmohan Desai. (Amar Akbar Anthony, Parvarish (1977),
Suhaag (1979), Naseeb (1981) to name some) He excelled in all types of
scenes be it action, drama, song and dance or comedy.
Amitabh started his own production company, the Amitabh Bachchan
Corporation Limited (ABCL). ABCL ventured into film distribution but
unfortunately fell on evil days.
Feather
in the Cap