by: Amit KumaR Agarwal
No name in the Indian film industry ever carried or will ever carry the weight as Amitabh Bachchan!
Inspiring an entire generation of filmmakers and actors alike; his superstardom criss-crossed from the 70's to the new millennium. Filmmakers from the new millennium Sanjay Leela Bhansali and R. Balki have been very vocal about their admiration. R. Balki has been candid enough to say, he just can't imagine cinema without Bachchan. His latest film pays an ode with, 110 years of Indian Cinema together with 80 years of Bachchan! Sanjay Leela Bhansali terms the legendary actor, together with Pandit Birju Maharaj and Lata Mangeshkar, God.
French New Wave auteur, Francois Truffaut famously called him 'One Man Industry', prompting a leading publication to do a 20-page cover story on Bachchan, almost a-quarter of the magazine. Film-distributors, termed him Number 1 to Number 10. One of Bachchan's most famous collaborator, Manmohan Desai, equated Halley's Comet with him, born once in 77 years!
After his Coolie accident when the entire nation went on a lockdown (much before Covid-19) film journalists were forced to write-about him in spite of the famous press-ban. A veteran film-journalist said, his neighbour asked him, why was he not writing about Amitabh.
The writer has witnessed in person, people from unconventional Indian-film markets, Greece, Morocco, Egypt, Italy, Indonesia, Brazil go crazy about him at the mecca of film events, Cannes Film Festival. Cannes is dotted by top Hollywood stars, but these audiences wanted Bachchan at the premier of The Great Gatsby. The standing ovation Bachchan got, made even Academy-Award winning actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, look at him with devotion.
No wonder then, the biggest multiplex-chain in India, PVR, is celebrating Bachchan with a special festival from October 8 to October 11, to celebrate his 80th Birthday! Interestingly his latest film, Goodbye, releases on October 7, 2022. In case, you are one of those crazy cine-buffs, here is your opportunity to catch the Bachchan-mania at a PVR cinema near you.