Life & times of Amitabh Bachchan | The sultan of fate
Amitabh Bachchan embodies stardom, but also so much more—speaking even to social and cinema history. As he turns 80, we trace the arc of his life and times in a scene-by-scene biography
It’s difficult to find a precise word to describe his slow, loping walk. Not a strut, not a swagger...nothing defiled by conceit. And yet that gait, set moving as if by some inner lode of burning coal, has traversed over half-century of Indian cinema. And, at age 80, he’s still walking. Amitabh Bachchan, the man, may be different from Amitabh Bachchan, the actor...but a ceaseless quest defines them both. Here we chart that journey in a scene-by-scene biography. From his birth during the Quit India days, his early life, a couple of mundane desk jobs, and his struggling years when auteurs willing to bet on him were rare. Then the Seventies, when he lit up Hindi cinema like dynamite from a burning beedi. His misadventures in politics and business. Then that rebirth in 2000. To now, in late 2022, in a changed world, when we look around and still see Amitabh Bachchan walking with us.
The Young ’Un
October 11, 1942
Inspired by the agitations launched by Gandhi during the Quit India movement, poet-author Harivansh Rai Bachchan (1907-2003) and wife Teji initially name their first-born ‘Inquilab’ but then opt for ‘Amitabh’ (or ‘Enduring light’). A prescient name.
Newbie Blues
The struggling years common to every fresh face are unusually tough for the tall, lanky baritone with a passion for acting. Finally, it’s his talent that speaks
1950s-60s
After studying at St Mary’s and Boys’ High School in Allahabad, at his boarding school in Nainital, Sherwood College, his thespian skills are honed as he plays the Mayor in Gogol’s play The Government Inspector, winning the Kendall Cup for best actor in 1957, at age 15. Alongside his BSc from Kirori Mal College in New Delhi, the acting bug stays constant. Joins its theatre society, The Players.
1968-69
After six dull years with a couple of desk jobs in Calcutta, begins his attempt to find his metier in cinema. Brother Ajitabh responds to an ad seeking new talent by taking a box camera picture of his brother outside Victoria Memorial and sends it to the Filmfare Madhuri Talent Contest. Amitabh doesn’t get the call.
Ajitabh’s friend tells them director K.A. Abbas was looking for a new face. Bachchan, then 27, makes his debut in Abbas’s Saat Hindustani, playing a Muslim poet who joins the nationalists to liberate Goa from Portuguese rule. It wins him his first National Award, as best newcomer.
1971-72
In Anand, Amitabh makes his presence felt as a brooding doctor-friend despite all the focus being on the biggest superstar of the day, Rajesh Khanna. Director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, by now aware of Amitabh’s talent, reputedly trims his role in Guddi because he doesn’t want to waste him in a minor role. Film lore also often dwelt on another 1971 film—Sunil Dutt’s Reshma Aur Shera where Amitabh, notably, plays... a mute man. In 1972, bags his first noteworthy lead role in Bombay to Goa (1972). Later that year, appears with Jaya Bhaduri in their first feature, Ek Nazar. Love blossoms. And a rich cinema partnership begins.
A Star Explodes
Beginning with Zanjeer in 1973, the next few years see Amitabh as the towering inferno at the centre of some of Hindi cinema’s best moments
1973
Zanjeer, directed by Prakash Mehra and written by Salim-Javed, ends Amitabh’s misery after registering 13 consecutive flops.
The action drama marks the advent of the ‘Angry Young Man’ who manages to voice the angst of the age—the pre-Emergency era—and presages the rebellious spirit of its youth. The Bachchan reign is inaugurated.
JUNE 3, 1973
Marries his Zanjeer co-star Jaya Bhaduri in Bombay. They have two kids, Shweta (1974-) and Abhishek (1976-). The year also sees a memorable pairing in Abhimaan, where he plays the jealous husband of a successful wife, besides another award-winning support role in Namak Haraam.
1974
Displeased with gossip around his personal life, Bachchan stops giving interviews to the film press. The magazines retaliate with a boycott of their own.
The year sees two of Amitabh’s biggest blockbusters, Deewaar and Sholay. The latter opens to negative reviews (India Today says: ‘Sholay’s dubious message is, in fact, more disturbing than entertaining’) and is prematurely labelled a flop, before going on to rewrite film history. On the side, there’s Mili with Jaya.
Amitabh and Rekha do their first film as romantic leads, Do Anjaane. So popular is the pairing that the two go on to do 12 films in five years, the last being extra-marital drama Silsila (1981), which also features Jaya as his wife. But 1976 also sees an intense romantic drama in Kabhi Kabhie, and an offbeat take in Alaap.
One-Man Industry
This is the time when Amitabh Bachchan looms over Hindi cinema like no one before him. They say he occupies all the space from No. 1 to No. 10
Chupke Chupke, two years before, had already showcased his comic skills. Now, Amar Akbar Anthony takes that right to the mainstream, reminding audiences again that the angry young man can be funny too—very funny.
Delivers two blockbusters in less than a month, then one more.
Trishul transports the anger into the family realm, with proletarian touches. Don is another kind of rage; the lines ‘Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin...’ are to endure through the ages.
Soon, fans are walking out crying after watching him in Muqaddar ka Sikandar.
1980
India Today calls him ‘The One-Man Industry’. By 1984, he has been in 40 per cent of Hindi cinema’s 15 biggest hits.
Cheers and Tears
While shooting a fight sequence for Manmohan Desai’s Coolie in Bangalore, Bachchan meets with a near-fatal accident after his lower abdomen hits the edge of a table. Three days of untreated intestinal leakage result in severe infection; an emergency operation follows.
Returns to the set of Coolie in January. The film releases on November 14, with a freeze-frame of the decisive moment. Reportedly, Desai changed the original ending to ensure his character, Vijay (one of the many times he had had been named thus), lives.
Amitabh’s health woes continue; he is diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, an illness characterised by muscular weakness due to a breakdown in the linkage between the nervous system and muscles.
Fame and Follies
A decade and a half of faltering. Amitabh tries to essay other roles: politics, then business. It’s mostly bankruptcy that stalks him, even in cinema
Rajiv Gandhi asks him to contest the Lok Sabha polls from his hometown, Allahabad. Mrs Gandhi’s assassination reportedly goads him into saying yes.
Defeats Hemwati Nandan Bahugana, the stalwart of UP politics, by a whopping margin of 187,895 votes—68 per cent of the votes cast. After a May 1984 release in Sharaabi, stays absent from the screen till flaky hits like Geraftaar, Mard (1985) and Akhree Raasta (1986). Quality-wise, the films begin to go downhill.
Embroiled along with Rajiv in the Bofors scam, Amitabh quits as MP. A year later, returns to focus on films. “No more politics,” he tells India Today.
Friend Tinnu Anand casts him as an avenging superhero in Shahenshah, his first release since he bid adieu to politics. It is greeted with political demonstrations but is a hit nevertheless.
His biggest hitmakers deliver a trio of painful duds—Manmohan Desai with Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswathi and Toofan, Prakash Mehra with Jaadugar. The Illustrated Weekly puts Bachchan on the cover with the headline ‘FINISHED!’
After 21 years, wins his first National Award for best actor—for his turn as Vijay Dinanath Chauhan in Agneepath. The title is borrowed from his father’s poetry; its lines serve as a leitmotif.
A Swiss court clears the Bachchans in the Bofors case, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter apologises in a libel case.
January lights up as he dances with a beer mug to woo Kimi Katkar in chartbuster ‘Jumma Chumma De De’; the film, Hum, is a blockbuster.
May 21, 1991
Scrambles back from a defamation hearing in a London court after hearing of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.
Khuda Gawah, the year’s second biggest hit, brings on a five-year sabbatical. “I felt I was stagnating,” he says. Also, makes first foray into entertainment media with TV Asia, launched in the UK with Pakistani film producer Faisal Shajan and family lawyer Sarosh Zaiwala.
1995
Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd is born. The vision: a Rs 1,000 crore company that brings corporate efficiency to a disorganised film industry.
ABCL brings Miss World to India for the first time. Contestants from 90 countries converge on Bangalore but the swimsuit contest has to be shifted to Seychelles as protests drive away sponsors, guests. ABCL deep in the red.
1997
Ends film hiatus with Mrityudaata, a flop. India Today writes: ‘Bollywood’s last icon has tumbled. Where does Bachchan go from here?’
1999
To the graveyard of good intentions, it appears—with Rs 70.82 crore losses, the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) beckons. Bachchan is reportedly in danger of losing old home, Prateeksha.
The Big Comeback
From the depths of gloom, a rebirth is scripted that can rival any fantasy. As a quiz host’s smile lights up the small screen, the films see a full renascence
2000
Debt-ridden and with his acting career flagging, Bachchan approaches Juhu neighbour Yash Chopra for work. A part in his son Aditya Chopra’s Mohabbatein ensues. There’s no looking back.
July 2, 2000
The first episode of Star TV’s quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati airs. Viewership breaks the circuit barrier. Besides a brief run by SRK in season three, Bachchan as KBC host is still going strong in 2022.
2001
ABCL reinvents itself as AB Corp.
2003
Pairs with old co-star Hema Malini for family tearjerker Baghban. As his career looks up, in 2004, Jaya Bachchan takes a dig at the Gandhis, saying those who brought her husband into politics deserted him in times of crisis. Rahul Gandhi defends his family. Amitabh responds with “Woh raja hai, hum runk hain”.
2005
The films begin to flower again. Earns praise for Sarkar; wins his second National Award for best actor for Black, his only collaboration with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Also, shakes a leg with son Abhishek and daughter-in-law-to-be Aishwarya Rai in the hit ‘Kajra Re’ (Bunty aur Babli).
2007
A long-standing collaboration begins with filmmaker R. Balki with the release of Cheeni Kum. Nishabd sees him in a quaint, affecting pairing with Jiah Khan.
April 17, 2008
Starts a blog sharing anecdotes from his personal and professional life. Has rarely missed an entry since then.
2009
Wins his third National Award for Balki’s Paa, co-starring Abhishek.
2010
Becomes brand ambassador for Gujarat, a move that angers his former party Congress, who see it as him endorsing then CM Narendra Modi.
2013
Makes his Hollywood debut in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
2015
Yet another National Award, this time for essaying an eccentric septuagenarian battling constipation in Shoojit Sircar’s Piku. Fully re-established as a viable, if old, protagonist.
The Journey Continues...
Controversy, failure, despair...the biography has seen all that and endured. An inner force propels Amitabh Bachchan to stay Amitabh Bachchan. Even at 80
2016-22
Pink has him front and centre. Besides cameos and narrator’s roles—which he had essayed even for Satyajit Ray’s 1977 Shatranj Ke Khiladi—there are ad appearances and brand endorsements by the dozens, and a healthy rollout of films too. There’s 2018’s biggest dud Thugs of Hindostan, surprise hit Badla (2019), and the Covid-era OTT hit comedy Gulabo Sitabo (2020). As we go to print in October 2022, Bachchan was busy announcing a price reduction for Goodbye to get the footfalls back into those darkened halls where he first entranced viewers.