Amitabh Bachchan @ 80: Eight faces during eight phases of his career

By the time his fourth phase came to an end in the mid-80s, Amitabh Bachchan had firmly established himself as India’s biggest filmstar. After initial days of struggle, he delivered massive hits across genres throughout the 70s, and continued the glorious run into the next decade. However, the brakes started hitting soon.

Even as India struggled with political upheaval, economic crises, and corruption scandals, Bollywood too faced its tryst with mediocrity in the 80s and early 90s. While the up-and-coming filmmakers managed to impress, by and large the industry served a staple of stale films replete with uninspiring direction and lackluster writing.

After a brief jump into Indian politics, Amitabh returned to movies in the late 80s. However, his cinema too was impacted by the general downturn in Bollywood. Besides, the star was still donning the hero’s hat into his late 40s and 50s, and this didn’t seem agreeable to the audience.

A lesser actor would’ve slowly burned out, but Amitabh’s dedication or performances didn’t diminish. If anything, like a wounded tiger he strived to keep doing even better. There were good performances in Shahenshah and Hum, but none came close to his iconic Vijay Dinanath Chavan in Agneepath.

The character was a throwback to his iconic ‘Angry Young Man’, which was reinterpreted here as a middle-aged gangster seeking to avenge his father’s death. The film was flawed in several respects and lacked the punch to deliver at the box office, but Amitabh didn’t leave any stone unturned in bringing Vijay to life.

The over-the-top and ‘cinematic’ nature of Vijay’s entrances and interactions in the movie, helped in creating the myth of an invincible force which won’t stop till it has corrected the wrongs of the past. For example, he walks into the headquarters of his enemies, openly challenging them to go ahead with their plan to kill him. In the final shot he takes out a gun, alarming them, only to keep it on the table and add that their fight will be decided by fate, not bullets.

Amitabh’s acting, which won him the National Film Award, was as good as it had ever been. Still, his troubles were far from over.

India’s economy opened up in the 1990s with liberalization. This provided opportunities to many, but the risks of an unfettered free market were also faced by quite a few. The senior actor saw his financial fortunes reach an all-time low in the late 90s, which left him in the need of a miracle.

And Amitabh managed to turn it around by making most of opportunities on the screen and behind the television. His sixth phase kicked off with Kaun Banega Crorepati, which became a massive primetime hit and Mohabbatein, wherein his role of a stern principal won critical appraisal.

This also started the trend of Amitabh giving up on playing the archetypical hero, rather investing himself in roles more suitable to his age. He was the strict patriarch in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, a disgruntled banker closing the age of retirement in Aankhen, and a disciplined Colonel in Lakshya.

His best venture in this period was Baghban, which was the story of an old couple overcoming resistance from their children to unite and achieve success in second innings of their lives. In a success after struggle scenario reminiscent of Rajesh Khanna’s Avtaar, Amitabh’s Raj Malhotra turns from a loving father to a disciplined fighter who achieves accolades with the pen.

This transition is visible when Raj is left stunned after a conversation with his son Sanjay, who shatters his long-held beliefs by hinting that his parents are begging before their kids. After Sanjay leaves, Raj breaks into a powerful soliloquy cursing his fate even as tears well up in his eyes.

As India approached the mid-2000s, it saw widespread changes as the middle-classes warmed up to a globalized world. There was steady economic growth which helped many fulfil their aspirations. On the cinematic front, Amitabh went on to achieve great heights. Some of his finest performances came in the mid-2000s to early 2010s including Paa, Sarkar, Bhoothnath among others.

The seventh phase of his career was topped by Black, where he plays Debraj Sahai, an ageing eccentric who becomes a teacher to a deaf-and-blind Michelle. The audience feel the movie through Debraj’s intensity and efforts in educating the girl, in his attempts at making her understand the world around her. Debraj’s ways are unconventional but eventually start yielding results primarily because he tries to treats Michelle as an equal, respectable human being.

Amitabh is a bundle of energy throughout the film, effortlessly portraying Debraj’s obsession in helping his student. When Debraj describes his teaching methods to Michelle’s father, played by Dhritiman Chatterjee, we see the eyes of a crazed man who is hell bent on achieving his goals come what may. It is only later we learn that these intentions are borne out of a personal loss.

The final phase as seen from the mid-2010s to present day is the age of Late Amitabh. The modern-day India is vastly different from the India in the 60s when he started out. Many of the conformed norms have been challenged. On the other hand, the actor has been in an evergreen run, still churning out movies at a great pace. Some of his remarkable features of late have been Pink, and Jhund.

Bhashkor Banerjeein Piku, with a name reminiscent of Bhaskar Banerjee from Anand – the movie which emblemized the first phase, is a hypochondriac with stomach ailments who is at odds with modern day values of his daughter. He symbolizes the presence of old-day belief systems in the modern age. He is inquisitive, intrusive and overanalytical, often becoming a cause of irritation to family and strangers alike.

Amitabh ensures that we get to see all shades of Bhashkor: from the overbearing father to an insecure old man, from the irritating passenger to the little child within, which comes out after Irrfan Khan’s Rana chides him during one of his outbursts.

These eight phases brought to you at the completion of eight decades of Amitabh Bachchan, exemplify his importance in the Indian film industry. He remains a unique phenomenon having achieved success in conventional as well as ‘out of the box’ roles. His co-artists include the superstars from the 1950s like Dilip Kumar to the present-day big names like Ranbir Kapoor. He’s also found space to go beyond Bollywood and appear in other film industries.

With such a robust filmography to his name, Amitabh’s cinema will continue to remain the talking point for years to come.

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