EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
How does one do a retrospective of someone still seething with creative energy—and fills our spaces like very few other people? Amitabh Bachchan is turning 80, a moment for us to pause in reflection and wonder. For a cinema-besotted nation, the magic of film reaches far beyond the darkened halls of a theatre. And perhaps a tribute to him must try and reach for the very core of his appeal. His persona has changed considerably over the decades, but something of that original mystique—of a taciturn man coming out of nowhere to speak to all of us, is still there.
For a man whose presence seared itself into the consciousness of a whole generation or two, Amitabh Bachchan was an unusual-looking one. He was tall and spindly in his early years. Not a classic symmetrical face, not the kind of muscle-bound physique some of his peers had—in no way was he the college campus Adonis girls would want to bunk classes with. But there was something profound about him. The role that cinema and history gave Amitabh Bachchan was to speak of a time. A time of inner ferment in India, of festering dissatisfaction and popular churning after a relatively placid quarter-century of independence. Something deep inside the country’s soul was restless. That’s why it resonated organically when Amitabh came with those brooding, smouldering eyes and a face that could express anger and hurt with a certain shock intensity. All he had to do was kick down a door, stand there with his looming 6’2” frame, and speak a few words in that baritone, and he had offered a cultural artefact: a way to live and a way to be.
If one has to find a real moment of inauguration, it could be the one where Jaya Bhaduri, his screen heroine in Zanjeer (1973) and later his wife, told him not to suppress his anger with the resonant words: “Let the lava flow.” And it did, for a decade, where Amitabh came to be called the No. 1 to No. 10 of Hindi cinema. This week, we look back 50 years after that volcano exploded with a special issue that blends the contemporary with the rearview mirror.
Being contemporary still might seem an astounding fact to any outside observer, but Amitabh Bachchan is busier than many of his younger peers. About 20 years ago—when he was nearing age 60, a time when most people would be thinking of superannuation—he crafted a comeback like none other. A comeback from which he has never gone back! And that was after stumbling through a period of relative darkness—with the decade of the 1990s filled with ill-conceived films that bombed, a business venture that went belly up and none-too-glorious dabbling on the sidelines of politics.
At that point, he reinvented himself as a TV celebrity with Kaun Banega Crorepati (2000), talking with a gently winsome smile to ordinary people caught up in the rapture. That quiz show is still running in 2022, in its Season 14. There was also a filmography that picked up again, with meaningful outings beginning to flow as directors and audiences found a way to reconnect with that old persona, now often cast in a softer, more vulnerable light. From Khakee in 2004, through varied fare like Sarkar, Nishabd, Cheeni Kum, Paa, Piku and Pink (2016), Amitabh Bachchan managed that unusual turn in Indian cinema. Of an old man as a protagonist.
He always had the versatility, even if he was most identified with The Angry Young Man persona. That was hardly his only accomplishment—he gathered very many more in a remarkable if an occasionally uneven career in film and entertainment. If films like Deewaar, Sholay, Amar Akbar Anthony, Trishul, Don, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Kaala Patthar formed the golden period, with hit after smash hit ablaze with that towering inferno at their centre, there were also offbeat, romantic turns and comic capers. Films like Abhimaan, Kabhi Kabhie, Chupke Chupke, and Alaap gave a roundedness to his output even during those glory days.
Deputy editor Suhani Singh has put together an extensive package that gives us a chance to relive those moments. Her main cover story seeks to understand and celebrate the phenomenon, while a run-through of The Life and Times of Amitabh Bachchan traces his early days and career from before he entered cinema to 2022. And a whole galaxy of the best cinema personalities reminiscing about their moments of collaboration. A ‘Then and Now’ spirit runs through these pages, enlivened at both ends with the very lifeblood of cinema. Thus, we have two actors from different eras doing the honours—Shatrughan Sinha and Ranveer Singh; two actresses likewise—Hema Malini and Taapsee Pannu; as also two scriptwriters—Javed Akhtar and Juhi Chaturvedi (of Piku and Gulabo Sitabo fame); director R. Balki; and the quizmaster Siddhartha Basu, who created KBC. All of this, of course, is interspersed with images ranging through Hindi cinema’s archives. We at india today have contributed to those archives too, with five cover stories devoted to Amitabh Bachchan, beginning with ‘The One-Man Industry’ in 1980. This one, coming 42 years later, is dedicated both to you, the reader, the man himself, and our collective memories. Enjoy.