‘Big B was a boxer when he was Chhota B’
PRAYAGRAJ :Did you know Big B boxed during his days at Boys’ High School and College (BHS), Allahabad (Prayagraj). Not only did he box, he was passionate about other sports too. This is testified by records kept by his alma mater and a letter written by Bachchan to his school in 2011.
Amitabh Bachchan celebrated his 77th birthday on Friday and people of his hometown extended warm wishes to him in their own ways. BHS academic supervisor CB Luke described how Bachchan was an active boy scout who participated actively in athletics and also boxed, during his seven years in the school between 1949 and 1955. As a student from Class 1 to Class 7, he was an active theatre artist, a fact that Bachchan accepted in a letter written to the school on November 3, 2011 — the year BHS celebrated its 150th year of foundation.
In the letter, the mega star wrote about how from becoming a prominent boy scout and enjoying the discipline and values associated with the movement, to his athletic achievements, to the boxing ring, and his escapades on stage, his school gave him the requisite values that remained with him throughout.
“During my years in BHS, the academic initiation that I imbibed became forerunners of whatever else I was to pursue in time to come,” he wrote along with sharing that he was a member of the Blue House.
Remembering his principal ‘Mr Dutt’, Bachchan recalled how under his firm yet disciplined guidance and care, there were many moral and social lessons that were imparted to him as a student.
“Those were the days my friend, the happiest and the most colourful. They shall never return, but living in the memory of those times with great nostalgia, shall ever be my greatest motivation,” said Big B, the 2019 winner of Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his ‘outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema’.