How Amitabh Bachchan has braved all the controversies in his illustrious career

Amitabh Bachchan turns 80 today. He began his acting career in 1969 with Saat Hindustani and in his 53-year old journey, has witnessed many ups and downs. His illustrious career is still as magnanimous, and so is his resilience. The man is made of steel and has a will-power of iron. And no controversy has been able to rust that. Here are some controversies that erupted in his life.

The Bofors Scandal

This was a weapons-contract political scandal between India and Sweden when the Indian National Congress was in power and Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister. Amitabh Bachchan was one of accused in the scam as well, according to reports. Nearly 25 years later, he and his family were found not guilty. And on his blog, expressing his thoughts, the actor wrote-

“When my family and I were loaded with the accusations of the Bofors Scandal, they painted every aspect of our existence with the darkest colours ever…25 years later, the prosecutor on the event, makes public the truth – the name of the Bachchans were ‘planted’!! 25 years later ..!! For 25 years you live under the burden of deceit and lies.. When it is disclosed, they ask me for my reaction ! What reaction may I give.. what does one say.. who does one say it to.. can they wipe away the pain of 25 years..will they be able to diminish the tainted colour of defamation..!!?? NEVER..never shall they be able to succeed in that unforgiving exercise!”

The Press censorship

During the Emergency in 1975, the press banned Amitabh Bachchan as they felt he was one of the people responsible for the censorship. In response, Bachchan banned the media and gave this statement:

“Whenever anyone enters the public life, the media and the press are after him, which is ok. In 1975, when Emergency was declared in the country, film journalists wrongly thought that the press censorship that came with the Emergency was my doing. They said, ‘This man is close to Indira Gandhi and he is involved in the press censorship and that is why we need to ban Amitabh Bachchan’. They stopped writing about me and printing my pictures. In fact, if I was in a film and they were to mention the star cast, they would put a comma instead of my name. I felt that if the press has the freedom to ban me then I should have the freedom to ban them too. That is the reason that whenever I was shooting or reporters wanted to meet me, I refused. This continued for some 15 years.”

They rekindled their relationship when Bachchan entered politics in the 80s and contested elections from Uttar Pradesh.

The Anurag Kashyap Fury

Abhishek Bachchan’s Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey and Manoj Bajpayee’s Chittagong were supposed to release on the same day in 2010. They both were based on the same subject. However, some media reports stated that Bachchan got the release of Chittagong postponed to make way for his son’s dud saga. Anurag Kashyap, on his blog, lashed out at the actor for the same. He wrote:

“See Chittagong, a far superior film made on the same subject as Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey.. At 1/8 th the cost, far superior actors and immense passion… Producers decided to sit on it, because of a phone call from someone, because that someone was trying desperately to save his son’s career… welcome to Bollywood, where whose son you are outshines all the hard work and passion and potential and talent. KHJJS came and went, now what?”

Talking about it, Bachchan said to Times of India, “This is incorrect and baseless and I do not wish to dignify this undignified remark by commenting on it.”

The Shatrughan Sinha Chapter

Bachchan and Sinha starred together in many blockbusters like Shaan, Kaala Patthar, Dostana, and Naseeb. But what was their equation like behind the camera? Shatrughan Sinha, in his book Anything But Khamosh, wrote:

“The problem was the applause I was getting for my performances. the chair next to Amitabh would not be offered to me, nor would his umbrella be ever trained to cover any of us. We’d be heading from the location towards the same hotel but he’d sit in his car and never say, ‘Let’s go together.’ I found it all very strange and wondered why this was happening because I never had any complaints against him.”

The two were friends again.

The Fallout With Amar Singh

Amitabh Bachchan and Amar Singh were very close friends. It is said that it was Singh who financially helped the Bachchan family when they were hit by debt and disaster in the 90s after the ABCL fiasco. It’s also said that it was Singh who encouraged Jaya Bachchan to join politics and made her a Rajya Sabha MP on Samajwadi Party ticket. When Singh was excommunicated from the party, he asked Bachchan to resign too, which she reportedly refused. This led to a rift between the Bachchans and Singh. He even stated in an interview that Amitabh and Jaya were living separately and that there were issues between her and their daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Years later, when he was diagnosed with kidney ailments, he apologized to the Bachchan family by this tweet- “Today is my father’s death anniversary and I got a message for the same from @SrBachchan ji. At this stage of life when I am fighting a battle of life and death I regret for my over reaction against Amit ji and family. God bless them all.”

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