Jagmohan Singh Barhok

On His Birth Anniversary

Amitabh Bachchan started his career as a non entity.He was often frowned upon at his taller frame & dialogue delivery, the two things that later proved his biggest asset, raison d’ etre so to say. His audacity to deliver things so aggressively and expressively made him outsmart the smartest. I saw him race to stardom though slowly but steadily .His phenomenal rise to stardom is attributed to his role which Prakash Mehra offered him in 1973 film “Zanzeer” starring Pran, Jaya Bhaduri, Ajit & Bindu. There was no looking back as Yash chopra’s “Deewar’ did wonders on the box office opening floodgates of fresh assignments for the young lad.One of the dialogues of the film later fashioned his roaring success in Bollywood: Iftikhar who plays Don Davar quips: “Ye Lambi race Ka ghoda hai . Jindagi kee race mein jis din isne speed pakdi, yeh sabko peeche chhod dega”.Some of Amitabh Bachchan’s earlier films had failed to do well.

Amitabh who started with “Saat Hindustani” came into media limelight co-starring Rajesh Khanna in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s “Anand” which paved way for his success. .In “Deewaar” he played an angry man, a trend setter concept sort of, paying in the same coin’, ‘An ear for an ear’ & ‘An eye for an eye’. His next few films “Muqaddar Ka Sikandar”, “Andha Kanoon”, ‘Laawaris”, “Desh Premi”, “Sholay”, “Don”, “Aakhri Raasta”, ” Sharaabi ” & “Amar Akbar Anthony” portrayed him as an angry man.

Amitabh did not have the opportunity to co-star with many of the yesteryears’ ladies. He,however,was lucky enough to have worked with some relatively younger actress like Meenakshi Sheshadhri, Madhvi, Amrita Singh, Kimi Katkar, Parveen Babi, Rati Agnihotri & Zeenat Aman.

Rekha was Amitabhs earlier favourite and the two had a wonderful chemistry starting with “Do Anjaane”, “Khoon Pasina”, “Suhaag”, “Natwarlal ” & Yash Chopra’s “Silsila”, also featuring Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri. At one time their rumoured affair was seen as a potential threat to Jaya Bhaduri ( the two had fallen in love and later married after doing half a dozen films- ‘Milli’, ‘Abhimaan’, ‘Sholay’, ‘Zanzeer & ‘Bansi Birzu’).

Amitabh’s infatuation with Jaya Prada started with “Sharabi”. After Rekha,Jaya Prada has co-starred with him more often than any other actress. The two were seen acting uninhibitedly in “Aaj Ka Arjun”(1990); they were also paired in “Aakhri Rasta”(1986) , “Ganga Jamuna Saraswati”, (1988) & “Jaadugar” (1989). With Amrita Singh Amit’s notable films included the likes of- “Mard” & “Toofan”. His films with Parveen Babi( with whom the actor reportedly had an affair of heart,too) included “Amar Akbar Anthony”, “Khuddar”, “Namak Halal”, “Majboor” & “Shaan”. With Rakhi he worked in “Muqaddar ka Sikandar”, “Trishul”,”Kabhie Kabhie’, “Shakti” & “Bemisaal”. Bachchan did three films with Sridevi, notably, “Aakhri Raasta”, “Inqilaab” & “Khuda Gawah” .In “Namak Halal” & “Shakti ” his co-star was late Smita Patil. The two had a whole of time frolicking & flirting in the rain sequence.His notable films with Hema Malini include “Sholay”, ( 1975), “Trishul” (1978), “Naseeb” (1981), “Desh Premi”(1982) & “Baghban” (2003).”Sholay” & “Trishul” were blockbusters. Sudhendu Roy’s “Saudaagar”(1973) starring Nutan & Padma Khanna was one of his finest movies. Bachchan also did comic roles in few films.

I was with the ‘mega star’ at Sumeet during the trial of film “Mahaan” with other guests.I was also present when Yash Chopra received him at the premiere of his film “Kabhie Kabhie’in 1976. He reached the venue straight from Bangalore where he was shooting. Yash Chopra offered him a bouquet.

Married Jaya Bhaduri & wed his son to Miss World Aishwarya Rai. Bestowed with the titles like ‘mega star’ , ‘Star of the Millennium” & Big B . His accolades include 4 National Film Awards,5 Filmfare Awards out of 33 Nominations, 3 Filmfare Supporting Actor Awards out of 8 Nominations, Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Legion of Honour, Lifetime Achievement Award, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan & numerous other national & international accolades.

They say ‘Money makes the mare go’. ‘No ear is deaf to the sound that gold can sing’ , goes another adage. Amitabh Bachchan, it would be conceded, has earned a major chunk of his money from endorsements & KBC. What he recieved for one episode could well be more than the total remuneration received by him for his first 25 films including “Deewaar” & “Sholay”. His remuneration for working in Ramesh Sippy’s “Sholay” was one hundred thousand Indian rupee in 1975.

Amitabh was not meant for politics. In fact, he had brought into it. A notable feature of his films has been that most of them, if not all, were big-budget, multi- star cast movies. It did not matter whether his films flopped or clicked for he always had Sippys, Desais, Mehras, Chopras & Ghais to back him – through thick & thin.