Amitabh Bachchan before 1995 : : Happy Birthday Mr Bachchan !
Some day in July 1982, former president of India Gyani Jail Singh was in our small city to inaugurate a big hospital. Classes were off after lunch and school bus used to pick us up in the evening only so we had sufficient time to spend. We accompanied elder students of our school belonging to our living place as they were going to see new hospital. Hospital was some 2 km away from our school and everybody was walking and when we were passing through a market place then all of a sudden people started running here and there. We stopped and our elder associates stopped 2-3 people and asked them what has happened.
One of them with a sad face, as if he would start crying soon, said,” News on Radio says that Amitabh Bachchan is seriously injured and is taken to the hospital”.
Many shopkeepers were also gathered to listen what this man was saying. After listening to him everybody was disturbed. One old shopkeeper said after some moments of silence,” May god save his life”.
It was a chaotic scene in the market. Don’t know why people were running here and there as if some riot had happened. Such was Amitabh’s impact on people especially youngsters.
We all decided to go to our living place but as school bus was the only medium to go back from city to our colony so we all decided to cover the distance of 14 Km by walking. We all started walking without saying even a single word and we covered whole distance in absolute silence.
Inside each one of us was rewatching the scenes from the films of Amitabh Bachchan we had watched by then.
————————–
Some day in last week of August 1982-
Amitabh Bachchan was shifted to Breach Candy hospital in Bombay and was recovering from his injury and subsequent operations. While lying on his sick bed inside the ICU, perhaps room number 1, he had written a poem.
[ Outside-Inside
Outside
Black
Granite ugly rocks
Turbulent mud laden sea
Dark frightening clouds hovering aboveInside
Whiteness, purity
Clean sheets, soft pillows
Gentle care, soft words
Solitude
And my agony ]
AB’s father Late Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan had done a very profound hindi translation of this poem which has been published in his autobiography.
—————–
If there is something like education in film viewing then a whole generation went through this opening ceremony of “viewing films” through AB’s films only. Some followed this Annprashan ceremony through Zanzeer, some with Sholay, some with Don, Amar Akbar Anthony, or Muqadar Ka Sikandar etc. An introduction with his cinematic incarnation was enough for leaving a long lasting impact on the minds of these kids. He was a kid’s hero. They loved him like anything. They grew with him and his films. They got first shock when he did Mard and said some adult dialogues not good for kids to listen.
Almost every kid of 70s remained in awe of him for long. Everything related to him was a matter of concern for them. If he was injured then they needed to be updated every hour because they wanted to know about his condition. They prayed for him a lot. It was an emotional blow for them.
When they got to know that he had written a poem from your sick bed then they waited for long to see that poem and this desire was fulfilled by his father who mentioned this poem in his autobiography. When he entered in to the politics they started following political news.
He made famous holidays with the then PM Late Rajiv Gandhi and his family and his permanent fans tasted it as if they had made holidays with most popular political family of India.
In mid 80s when he was MP and Jacky Shroff was enjoying the success in films it was mentioned that Shweta and Abhishek had become big fans of Jacky so AB had invited Jacky to Delhi so that his Kids might meet with their star.
He Invited Anup Jalota to sing at his house in Allahabad.
When he was surrounded by bofors scandal then once he gave speech at a club before a gathering of CAs and CAs were so impressed by his speech that many commented “kya bolta hai, kahan fansa diya bechare ko “(What a speech he gave. Where poor person has been seized).
If he was disillusioned with politics then they kept sympathy with him.
He met former PM late Chandrashekhar and arranged that PM would attend the premiere of his film Hum. He famously described Mr Chandrashekhar as a poor farmer because when he reached to meet PM he was sitting alone on a floor covered with blanket and sipping his tea and doing his paper work.
He grew his beard in early 90s and it was an interesting matter for his fans.
He used one of the longest word of English language – “FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION“ in one of his interviews and people talked about it for months.
He was someone who used to read books on classical music, musical instruments like Tabla.
He took sabbatical and went to USA to study some film course and people enjoyed his tales how he lived in a small apartment and how he was enjoying life of student with his daughter there and how he used to cook. People enjoyed tales about his life and then he was taken as very sophisticated and well mannered person.
That was the end of his first phase of super starry days.
[Everything changed after 1997 but about that phase some other time]
Today is the day to celebrate the 65th Birthday of longest reigning super star of Hindi Cinema.
Many Happy Returns of the day Mr Bachchan ! !
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
My birthday wishes to one of the best actors and stars of the Hindi Film Industry.I hope that the coming years are kinder to him and he acts in some really good movies.
Seriously man the guy rocks! But for me the best Amitabh had to offer is not in any movie but in the episodes of KBC. The greatness of the man really shone through in his interactions with the folks on the show.
Plus don’t think very many have a command of the Hindi language which he possesses.
Long Live Big B!
RK thanks for the nice post.
For once it nice to see something nice written about AB or BigB on PFC.
Most of the posts on PFC has not been kind to him and his family.
Long Live Amitji… former angree yong man and today’s angree old man
Dazed,
I am 100% with you on this one. The goodness and greatness of bachchan can be observed from KBC. He is inherently good. Watch his live interview by audience and Pranoy Roy in India questions/question time ( donno exact name of program). He is a prime example about how to carry oneself. See how he defends Aishwarya in one of the questions.
Long Live Amitabh Ji. Please act only in meaningful roles only. You are in a position where yu can raise the standard of present time filmss. You did try ABCL every effort can have set back initially but as you have resurrected your acting life same way make live your ABCL again and make world class films. people equate you with Al apcino, Robert De Nero some even with Brando then respect their love. If hindi films dont offer good roles for your age actors then please make films with geat stories, interesting characters. Amitabh Ji you have got means, high level talent, zeal to do, blessings of God, love from people, whats stopping you?
Make us proud Sir.
Although I don’t think much of him as an artist, and find him to be overrated, he is certainly a star, and a powerhouse at that. Long live Mr.Bachchan, BBC’s star of the millenium!
P.S: I was expecting RK sir’s post.:d
Long Live Amitabh Ji,
you rock,you are simly superb the kind of roles you play not only at this age but when you were at your prime,lot of actors of today should learn from you how to experiment and how work speaks more than the publicity
Keeep rocking and do take gud care of yourself
I love “Pyar Ki Kahani” movie. Its a very sweet love story of AB & Tanuja. This pair looked very good on screen. I just dont miss this movie whenever it comes on TV.
@RK Sir,as always brilliant and very informative post.
@Vikram, We all hope that he works in better films, and selects better roles. There is no dearth of anything for him. He need not doing anything coming his way. He has achieved a certain level and this can be like always getting 85% marks but because he is not offered any challenging role so there is a kind of stagnation.
It will be pleasant to see him doing matching the standard what Pankaj Kapoor achieved in The Blue Umbrella:).
If not now then when he will do it? He is in that age group where he can do a lot of experiments. He still has impact on market and writers will make a line to write keeping him in mind. He has to take first step.
Hero Amitabh Bachchan was not stagnant even if he was doing roles developed around same kind of elements. We watch Zanzeer, Sholay, Namak Haram, Namak Halal, Abhiman, Mili, Don, MQS, AAA, Deewar, Kabhi Kabhi, Parwarish, Bemisal, Sharabi, Mein Azad Hun etc and they all have AB in them but he brings variety and gives us joy.
Now it’s said that he is doing different films but still somewhere variety is lost. That old spark is not there, designer clothes, a fixed get up etc have started ruining the actor AMITABH BACHCHAN.
He did not wear designer clothes and french cut beard but still his Arjun Singh of Namak Halal brought us joy of watching a wonderfully acted character. That spontaneity is affected.:(
@dazedandconfused,
He knows Hindi and English very well and perhaps that’s the benfit of being Son of Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan, a Scholar in both the languages.
A kid learns very quickly and in detail whatever is present in abundance at home.
His father was surrounded by literature, good books, art, talks of art and culture and he learnt it by seeing his father.
Comparisons are not good but just for the sake of social study, It will be interesting to see what has been the difference between this trickling down theory between two pairs of father and son,
(1) Dr Bachchan and AB
(2) Mr Bachchan and Abhishek,
AB got his father at home in real sense while Abhishek might have seen him more on screen than in personal life in his initial years. AB might have seen his father struggling to earn good to give a good life to his family by doing extra work of creative writing while Abhishek might have seen difference of 19/20 at Box office because almost all films of AB used to be hits if not super hits.:-w
@ShawshankRedemption,
Thats not right observation regarding AB and PFC. if someone has written against him then in the comment section of same post you will find comments praising him and countering arguments given in the post. Any individual may have any opinion but to make everything generalized does not do justice.
Manyposts have been written on AB.
If PFC does not cover him or any actor or imposes sanction that these and these persons will not get a place on PFC then you can say what you are saying but if articles are published dealing with who and who of hindi cinema then nobody can say PFC does not give space to discuss certain specific film makers.
You have been an open minded reader of PFC so dont leave that trend
Avoidance is the worst thing to do with any creative person. Criticism and praise are immaterial.:)>-
@Jwalant,
Your observation is right. AB needs to be tackled by decent people. By nature he is not meant to be tackled by someone like Pooja Bedi. There are many many people who are not comfortable with everyone. They maintain a distance till they enter in to that comfort zone. Thats why there has been difference between AB’s interviews and Interviews. Watch him with Simi Grewal or Pranav Roy and then with journalists who dont have anything substantial to ask and have to repeat same thing again and again.
To be reserve is prerogative of AB as its with any living humanbeing.
KBC surely might have brought changes in his own perception about handling people.
Problem starts those who dont like him or almost hate him never cant take rightly whatever he says. If he says he still cant feel comfortable before entering in the place where all unknown people are sitting then these people will take it as his hypocricy.
Too much media interaction is not good. When he did not meet with Media at all he did very well with common people but now he is everywhere and NOBODY can be Mr perfect 24X365.
Girl who commented on Aishwarya and asked about her from AB was impolite and did not know simple manners also. AB was quite dignified. You are right. One may not like Aishwarya or AB but one has to maintain atleast civilized manners to talk to a person who can be of her father’s age.
That was sad. Out of fashion some youngesters (18-25) forget manners as they have to be outspoken in a crowd, they have to show they can make an opinion. Thats dangerous attitude.
@M, Agree with your sayings. as mentioned to Vikram, I do feel that AB is in a position where he can lift standard of Hindi cinema just by applying his power of pick and choose.
His this phase of acting career is not meant to do anything and everything. He needs to do special things.
Whats there to lose? Nothing really. He may only gains.:)
Dear RK,
You really summed up the feeling of the youth of 70’s.Infact what is amazing about AB is how beautifully he chnged from the rebel of Deewar to a matured lover of Kabhi Kabhi.
I am really looking forward to your post of AB after 97.
@Thilak,
My friend, I have not met anyone, (who did not belong to India, and who never had any familiarity with name Amitabh Bachchan) who after watching a AB starrer film, did not get impressed by AB and his portrayal. They may not be Professors of acting school or film making but different people from different background and if majority of them always find him the best thing in those films then it says a lot about his Natural and wider appeal which crosses the boundaries of nations, cultures etc.
BBC star of millenium etc are immaterial things. He worked in the films made strictly for Indian audience of his era and when old popular actors like Shammi Kapoor says,” Amitabh has given maximum shades” and Kapil Dev says” Amitabh has given maximum entertainment” a director like Hrishikesh Mukherjee who gave high standard entertainment to audience repeats AB in 5-6 films and whenever other actors of his era like Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Shahsi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Sanjeev Kumar etc work with him and audience still like him as their favourite star in the film then this over rated, under rated things dont really matter. They are theoretical things and ground reality is clear before us.
If anyone who works in those masala films and still do it with high standard acting then its a tough job to do.
Not that he had not done in early 70s what Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri did in later 70s.
His presence in Saat Hindustani, Ek Nazar, Alap, Bansi Birju, Saudagar, manjil etc have characters similar to what these super star duo of art films played later and earned fame.
Sensibilities of a country is different. Its very much possible that an Al Pacino or RD Nero may not do ” My name is …” or English commentary scene of Namak Halal as convincingly as AB did.
every good actor has some specific areas where he is better than others.
so we cant rate these good actors in general terms. we always can rate their some performances only.
@ Tarun Kumar,
>-
Please appeal him to do something significant. He rocked in older times but he is not rocking now atleast in films. He may be rocking in ad. world but not in terms of quality of his chosen roles and films.
RK sir,
No one can beat you in an argument. But, from my end, I have never identified or connected to his characters as much, it’s always AB who is glaringly visible. I don’t think he was meant to be natural in the character’s vein, but “his” naturalness which brought out a charismatic figure. Of course, there are exceptions. Reg. De niro or Pacino couldn’t do an AB, this could be extended to Tom cruise, Rajini, etc. I agree with you about terms such as ‘overrated’ or ‘underrated’. It’s immaterial. But in any case, with their respective oeuvres, one can evaluate and estimate the actor’s talent. Not comparing to N’shah or Om puri (or Pankaj kapoor in recent times) but I don’t find him as talented as some of the best actors.
@Maria, “Pyar Ki kahani” ?
:-?:-w[-(:)
liking is very individualistic thing. Though AB and Tanuja both will not like to recall this film of theirs.
As AB said this was the film where he had got to play lead role as a solo hero. and he had got it through Jeetendra because Jeetendra was unable to do more than 3 films as per rules of that era and he suggested Amitabh to the film.
this is interesting that Don was also suggested by Jitendra to AB.
Can we find even a single example with these days stars where they say, this role so and so can do better than me? or calls some other to do the film because he is unable to do for any reason? ;)
@Shatrughan,
thanks for your comment.
Dont forget your own selected assignment.
Just Do it!!!!!!:)
KUn kehta hai AB ne hatke roles nahin kiya hai?
Main azaad hoon, black, cheeni kum, agni varsha, eklavya, baaghbaan, virudhdha, paheli, armaan, aks… these are some of the roles of different shades he did in his last several years of career.
what to say?
@RK Sir,Kaam ho jaayega
….
@Thilak,
whats nornally understood as argument is not argument. When I am dealing with your (or anyobodys) comment and while I am replying it then I am also learning through that zone where you and your comment has put me in. I have no fixed notion. Like your new comment put forth different angle before me and whatever I may think at present because of your comment will put that here.
From last 3 comments (2 yours 1 mine), What I find, is difference between characters [and not actors].
If Marlon Brando has to play a character in LT in Paris then his director has envisaged a charcter in that way where he has to play it in a cynical way. Marlon Brando can add or reduce the impact of that character depending on his acting ability and capability to grasp nuanaces of that character.
A Man Mohan Desai envisages a character Anthony and he wishes it to be played by Amitabh in such a way that it allures audience to maximum extent and hence scenes are woven in such a way, thay may not require to go in to the psychological area and they need to keep everything at that level where its visible in very clear manner to which state this character is passing through?
Amitabh does that and not only maintain what director is demanding but does it in such way that maximum number of audiences can get what he is doing.
Ramesh Sippy demands little deeper impact and he wishes that AB and Dilip Kumar should show through their gestures that they are passing through great sadness (death of Rakhi in Shakti) and everything is done without uttering a single word. Many scenes in Shakti were having silent moments where dialogues were not said, but mass audience did not catch that as they caught doings of Anthony. Though that scene where AB goes and watches Dilip Kumar sitting in white dress besides the photo of Rakhi and everything is expressed by eyes and body language may be one of the best scenes in hindi cinema because two very good actors are involved in the scene and director knows what to extract from these actors, even reactions of Smita Patil, standing there.
We must watch Marlon Brando in ” Countess of/from Hongkong” to know what I wish to say. Many of his die hard fans may not like him in the role.
People may say anything but Prakash Mehra envisaged his lead character in Lawaris to sing the song his mother used to sing and do in such a way that he is singing and showing all the things by having dresses and make up of those characters for whom song has lines. AB did that and did in funny way whatever was required.
Dustin Hoffman dons woman dress and make up, we applause, John Travolta does it we cheer him up, R williams/kamal hasan do this we appreciate and in same way we should see AB’s act also. what his director demanded he did.
We see best films of these best actors (whoever they are all over the world, because first we hear about those films and then we see) while we just see AB like actors in present flow so naturally impact can be an affected one.
we always have to see Directors also when we compare actors.
@Sanjeev,
Thanks for comment. Hope soon I find time and opportunity to write about AB, post 1997.
RK,
It’ll be only suffice to say that our love for cinema is far beyond actors or stars! We love cinema, and we would prefer if the characters are enacted well. On that note, we will end this digression. On a related note: Is there a sequel to this post? On the post-95 phase?
Shailesh:
Dont think they are different than whatever he had done before. As I mentioned, its not always about different things but doing differently. He was doing almost same thing in his young days also but was doing it differently.
There was a time (1984-88) when Navjot Singh Siddhu had this trend that if he was on pitch beyond 20 runs in his pocket then he mostly reached to 70-75. But he hardly reached beyond that.
AB is also reaching at 70-75 but then thats it. No more efforts to cross that border. Its too mechanized. we know he will be doing it good, but stimulation of watching him in something significant is not there. that thrill is gone because since frame 1 he maintains that 70 % score.
Its production level. he is human being we need R&D efforts.
He may be best but then in comparison to others who are already small and have always been small. If he has competition with him only he has to go beyond that.
Pankaj Kapoor is not good in MPKDH but he simply brilliant in Maqbool or The Blue Umbrella. While AB would have been same in all the three films. this is the issue.
@Thilak,
Yes Sir, thats very right.Cinema always comes first and stars actors etc are secondary things.
No immediate sequel. As I was writing in a flow and then had to stop because occasion was his bday and post 95 phase cant be appropriate at such occasions.
Thats why wrote, some other time.:)
totally agree with u RK…abt the post 95 thing…
this is not the appropriate time to discuss that…
awesome post…..
long live AB
Kuch Bhi Kaho —- AB ki baat hi kuch aur hai!!
Thanks RK for this post
RK, I was one of those kids who grew up in the 70’s with his movies in total awe of him, and for quite a long time, refused to even imagine some 1 as his succesor, even in the late 20’s.
And now im 38 years, and i still sit all night watching the umpteenth rerun of Don/Kaalia/Lawaris/Namak Halaal/Muqadaar Ka Sikandar/Mr.Natwarlal/Trishul/Deewar/Suhaag/Amar Akbar Antony on Sony/Zee/Star.
I still enjoy that scene in Lawaaris, where he thrashes the goons and speaks with em in their respective languages.
I still get a lump watching him die in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar.
I still feel nothing can beat the cool quotient of him in the Yeh Mera Dil song from Don.
I still feel like doing a seeti maar when he cooly tells Helen “niche tumhari aunty kai uncles ke saath aaye hai” in Don.
I love him for his smouldering intensity in Kala Pathar, where he speaks only with his eyes.
I love him for the icy cool way in which he plays around with Sanjeev Kumar in Trishul.
To date the “English speaking” scene from Namak Halaal and “Daaru peene se Liver” scene in Satte Pe Satta would make it to the list of my best comic moments.
Inspite of Aag, Boom, JBJ, inspite of his pals like Amar Singh, inspite of his tendency to come in every ad, i simply forgive and forget everything when i watch him on TV.
Happy Birthday Sir, it was a pleasure to grow up admiring your movies, wanting to be like you.
Hi Ashwin,
ya for post 1995 phase we will have other opportunities. Thanks for comment:)
@aditi,
nam hi kafi hai.:)
ya he has got something which is special, thats why many are in awe of him.:)>-
@Ratnakar,
Thats called unconditional love.
AB may not be knowing his fans like you and many others and perhaps he may not like them in personal meeting but they will shower their unconditional love on him.
Aftera ll Love lies in feeling and showing towards someone and its not necessary and rather immaterial one gets it back or not.:)
one is free to do and when expect then bondage comes and love is free from any bondage.:)>-
RK bhai,Excellent point made by you.But i think there is still something to look forward to.It’s this movie i’ve been reading about a lot lately called The Last Lear.His getup in the movie looks interesting and he’s working with Rituparno Ghosh.Looks like yeh tuning jamegi:)
Vikram:
Ya with such capable actors, directors rather capable creators the stage is always available there to perform and display their new creations.
Whenever two different school of film making join hands then we hope to get something different, significant and interesting.
Waiting curiosuly for “The Last Leer”.