The Master Magician - Amitabh Bachchan

They say the only reason GOD created this Universe was just because HE wanted the human race to witness greatness of Prophet Muhammad. And BOY! We are still witnessing the effect of great Prophet on this world.

Well the same can be said of Bollywood and Amitabh Bachchan in terms of ruling the Bollywood. We can say, Bollywood came into being just to witness the phenomenon name Amitabh Bachchan. Without argument he is the greatest living legend of contemporary India. To me he is in the same league as Brando and Charlie Chaplin. Even at this age when most of us fade away, him continuous to deliver Bollywood runaway successes.

The life of Amitabh Bachchan goes way back to 70s at the time of emergency when he came to Bombay to act in Bollywood movies. When he joined Bollywood Rajesh Khanna was the heartthrob of the nation. Rajesh was enormously adored by girls and women. Initial efforts to make a name for self failed miserably. The industry rejected him by saying that he doesn’t have the look and the physical body to be a Bollywood actor. The man from one of the most populous state of the country was on the verge of break down and wanted to return to his homeland of Allahabad. But as they say destiny had something else in store for Amitabh. After several box office flops Zanjeer was release in 1973. Zanjeer became a stupendous hit and Amitabh who performed the role of angry policemen fighting against the crimes in society took the nation by storm.

After Zanjeer there was no looking back for the young lanky neighbor of Indira Gandhi announced his arrival to Bollywood. The angry young man image suited him to the core. With every movie of his, he made the people of India stand up and applause his acting talent. Giving super hits became a norm for him. Movies like Deewar, Sholay, Trishul, Amar, Akbar & Anthony, Silsila, Mr. Natwarlal and many more ruled the box office fund collection. In no time the reigning superstar Rajesh Khanna was dethrone from his position and country got a new superstar name Amitabh Bachchan. People started to follow each and every steps of this great man. The way he walk, his dialogue delivery the way he moved his famous left hand; every display of his was followed by people like a religion.

Amitabh became such a cult figure in Bollywood that when he met with an accident while shooting for that now infamous fight scene in Coolie the whole nation wept and prayed for his fast recovery. There were prayers in Mosque, mass were performed in churches, poojas were conducted in Mandirs till the time he came out of hospital. The late 90s saw the arrival of the Khan brigade i.e. Shah Rukh, Salman, Arbaaz and Aamir. The Bachchan’s magic slowly started to die away. Amitabh movies no longer pulled crowd to cinema hall. The Production Company ABCL he launched ran into huge losses. ABCL went bankrupt. Everyone had written him off. The star that once shown the brightest among millions of Indians was struggling to save his home from being confiscate to pay the finance company the losses suffered by ABCL. He no longer ruled the 70 mm screen. People no longer applauded his acting. Everything seems to be over for BIG B. But then when going gets tough the tough gets going and when everyone had written him off he bounced back with Kaun Banega Crorepati on Star Plus.

The Show Kaun Banega Crorepati became a rage for the nation. Amitabh was back with a bang. Kaun Banega Crorepati with Amitabh was a delight to watch. After this there was no looking back for Amitabh. All his movies started to dominate box office once again. Everything for him seems to be back as it was some 25 years back when he ruled the entertainment Industry. Since then he has achieved back all that was taken away from him, his super stardom, his Production Company and people’s respect. India salutes this superstar.