A small boy with dreams enters the city and faces a multitude of rejection because of his tall physique and bad voice.
As people say change is the only thing that doesn’t change, the boy’s life changed and took him to the limelight. He was praised and celebrated for the things he was rejected earlier.
Now there is no one Indian household that doesn’t know him. He is recognized as Jai in Sholay or the Auro in Paa and above all the Bollywood’s Shahensha Amitabh Bachchan.
Life is a mix of everything only if one doesn’t stop at his failures. The Bollywood legends life is a paradigm of fighting against rough trots.
Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan was born on 11th October 1942 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. His life synced with his name meaning “the life that will never die”.
His life has various shades including Indian actor, producer, television host and more. He completed education at Sherwood College Nainital and Kirori Mal College Delhi.
His mother’s acting interests had some influence on Amitabh and she also encouraged him to “take the centre stage”.
Acting career
Amitabh Bachchan began his cinematic career with the national award-winning movie Bhuvan Shome as voice narrator.
His acting debut was with the movie Saat Hindustani 1969, in which he played one of the seven protagonists. His debut movie became a success gaining him a national award.
But he had to struggle for two years to get his next role. The movie Anand and Zanjeer changed his life forever.
The movie Zanjeer laid the ground for the Angry young man persona of Amitabh and gained him recognition.
He subsequently gave movies that were box office hits and were starting the Amitabh era. In 1973 he married Jaya Bhadudi who played his co-star in various movies.
The phase of stardom
The period 1975-1982 saw several Bachchan movies and many of them were a huge success.
He gave 4 releases in 1975- Chupke Chupke, Farrar, Deewaar and Shoaly. His career slowly was on the rise with back to back success such as Kabhi Kabhie, Adalat, Parvarish, Khoon pasina, Don, Trishul, Kala Patthar, Dostana, Shakti and more.
He bagged several awards including the Filmfare for the best actor and playback singer.
The turning point
In 1983, till then a successful career saw a setback due to a near-death accident that happened in the sets of Coolie.
During the shooting of the stunt sequence where Amitabh had to fall into a table and then to the ground, he accidentally hit the corner of the table in his abdomen and resulted in splenic rupture.
There was a heavy loss of blood and needed immediate splenectomy. His fans poured into the hospital and stayed outside the hospital and prayed for his speedy recovery.
The accident and the controversy made Coolie a box office hit and an evergreen film of Amitabh Bachchan.
After a long gap, the Big B gave a great comeback in 1988 with his box office hit Shahenshah.
His films afterwards didn’t see much success and he suffered from Myasthenia Gravis.
In 1992 he took a semi-retirement of 5 years and started his production company ABCL ( Amitabh Bachchan corporation limited).
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The downfall and rise
In 2000, Amitabh Bachchan faced a huge downfall. His movies flopped, he faced a financial crisis and lost almost everything he had.
He started again with the TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati. The show grabbed major awards such as Indian of the Year for its category offered by CNN IBN.
Following the small screen appearance, he made the silver screen again with back to back hits like Baghban, Khakee, Paa, Khabie Kushi Khabie Gham, Black, Bhoothnath and more.
The humanitarian at a glance
Amitabh Bachchan spends plenty of time in charitable causes. He was appointed as the ambassador for UNICEF, United Nations Children’s Fund in 2003 for the Polio Eradication Campaign.
He was the face of the “Save our tigers campaign” and in 2013 he established the Harivansh Rai Bachchan Memorial Trust, a charitable trust that powers 3000 homes with solar energy.
An endless list of awards and honours
He earned some of the most prestigious awards in his lifetime including the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1984, Filmfare lifetime achievement award in 1991, the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2001, President of India “Medallion of Honour” in 2013, Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2015 and more.
Lessons for us
Once Amitabh mentioned that “Bad luck either destroys you or makes you the man or woman you are”.
His determination made him the most celebrated Indian actor for the characteristics he faced rejection.
He accepted his failures and found a solution to overcome them rather than accepting them.
Every person should understand and accept that mourning failure sets us back but overcoming it takes us a step ahead.