THE COMPLETE ACTOR

Amitabh Bachchan

Mini Biography

Amitabh Bachchan was born on October 11, 1942 in Allahabad.Son of well known poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Teji Bachchan. He has a brother named Ajitabh. He completed his education from Uttar Pradesh and moved to Bombay to find work as a film star, in vain though, as film-makers preferred someone with a fairer skin, and he was not quite fair enough. But they did use one of his other assets - his deep baritone voice - which was used for narration and background commentary. He was successful in being cast in Saat Hindustani. He got his break in Bollywood after a letter of introduction from the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, as he was a friend of her son, Rajiv Gandhi. This is how Amitabh made an entry in Bollywood, starting with Zanjeer, co-starred with his future wife Jaya Bhaduri, and since then there has been no looking back.

He married Jaya Bhaduri, an actress in her own rights, and they had two children, Shweta and Abhishek. Shweta is married, lives a non-filmy life and has two children.Being friends with Rajiv Gandhi, got him to decide to run for seat in the Congress from his hometown but had to leave midterm because of controversies, particularly after Rajiv and he were implicated in the now infamous "Bofors" case along with the U.K. based Hinduja Brothers.After a four year break, he was back in the unsuccessful Mrityudaata (1997), a comeback which the actor wanted to forget. Critics written him off but his career was saved with Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998). But four flops in 1999 and incurring debt of over 90 Crores rupees of his sinking company ABCL saw him at an all-time low. To make matters worse, after the defeat of the Congress party, Amitabh lost considerable political support, the opposition made him a target, and his credit rating deteriorated to such an extent that a leading nationalized bank, Canara Bank, sued him for outstanding loans. He did bounce back, presenting the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire called "Kaun Banega Crorepati?" (2000). After a series of hits with Mohabbatein (2000), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001) and Baghban (2003) andKhakee (2004), this elderly Bachchan is showing no signs of slowing down and proving the critics wrong once again.His son, Abhishek, is also an actor by his own rights.Amitabh and Jaya were interested in getting Abhishek married to Karishma, the daughter of Babita and Randhir Kapoor, they went through a formal engagement, but later broke it off.

The former Miss World and Bollywood actress, Aishwarya Rai, and Abhishek, were formally engaged on Sunday January 14, 2007, at the Bachchan residence in Juhu, Bombay, with the marriage taking place at the Bachchan residence on April 20, 2007.On November 16, 2011, he became a Dada (Paternal Grandfather) when Aishwarya gave birth to a daughter in Mumbai Hospital. He is already a Nana (maternal grandfather) to Navya Naveli and Agastye - Shweta's children.He continues to be one of the busiest actors and singers in Bollywood as well as on TV, as can be seen from the commercials that he appears on, especially on Sahara One. Looks like there are no limits for this super-star and once the "Angry Young Man" of Bollywood. 

Personal Quotes

I have never been a superstar and never believed in it. For me if there was a superstar its Rajesh Khanna. His body of work, his sense of melody, involvement in music plus his fan following was really of a different league. He is the best superstar-cum-super-actor. The word "superstar" in the Indian film industry was for the first time coined for him.

The amount of things I have been through and the remarkable ways in which the body has reacted is just phenomenal. No wonder I became religious, because you don't know why something's happening to you and you don't know how you bounced back.

His thoughts on working in Hollywood: "You don't see Indians in Hollywood films around which a story can revolve. As soon as we have a social presence in your society, I am sure there will be many actors from our part of the world that will be acting in Hollywood films. I have always been a great admirer of Marlon Brando, Al Paccinno, Robert De Niro. I would love to walk into the frame, hold their briefcase!"

(2000) Whether it was in sets of Anand or Namak Haram, we never bickered or argued or tried to upstage one another in any manner. On the contrary Kaka does'n know this, but when I was working in Calcutta and keen to join films, the inspiration to join was Mr. Rajesh Khanna. Kaka had succeeded in Filmfare contest and I said "My God, here is an excellent opportunity where somebody is actually auditioned and here this gentleman who has made it and is doing so well." Then wonder of wonders in 2 years Hrishida asked to work with Kaka. It was a dream come true for me.

(1991) It was a dream come true for me because of there was this great admiration for Kaka and his phenomenal success. The hysteria that he evoked was witnessed for first time in Hindi Films. And we were all part of that hysteria that followed Kaka. I got famous purely because I was working with Rajesh Khanna. People came and asked me questions like "How does he look?" So I became very important, thanks to Kaka. I have always maintained that person who is my senior will always remain senior. I have never argued about billings because I don't think they mean anything. And I have had always greatest respect for Kaka.

Rajesh Khanna for me will remain the only superstar in true sense. He appeared in 153 films by 1991 - that is in a span of 25 years which already included 101 solo hero films and did only 21 multi star-cast films. Everyone knows his involvement in music of his films.He was so hardworking that each year he had minimum 3 films releasing and still managed to give 95 jubilee hits!! Hats off to him. My achievements are no-where near him. In-fact I did more multi star-cast films and less solo hero films than him. Once i got success in angry young man genre I had to stick to it and whenever I tried to do something different it was a failure so I stayed away from experimenting much. But Khanna never bothered about such things. In-spite of not working much after 1991 he has done 180 films and Am far behind him. I have highest regards for him since the 1965 when I heard about him then my respect only increased when I worked with him and till date I regard him as a greater actor.

Awards

Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honour from the Government of India. 3 National Film Awards For Best Actor; 1 National Film Award For Best Newcomer. 5 Filmfare Best Actor Awards; 3 Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Awards; 2 Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance; Filmfare Superstar of the Millennium

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