However, I did grow to respect and admire AB eventually. And as the years went by, my regard for the man increased — for his class act, and for his ability to stay relevant to audiences decade after decade, generation after generation. I admire him for his ability to carry on despite heavy odds; for having plumbed the depths of collapse and despair, and then having had the spiritual strength to climb right back up to the pinnacle once again. And again. What strength, what fortitude, amazing resilience!
What’s not to admire about a man who believes in himself so much that he reverses Destiny, and pulling it by the forelock, brings it back to the path he wishes to trot. Once, when he almost died while shooting for Coolie and came back from the brink; and then again when the world wrote him off, forcing him to borrow money to even feed his family, to a time now when an entire industry could feed off him. What a true
yodha!
It is not easy to keep pace with changing times and stay relevant for decades – in the face of contemporaries who are decades younger. AB has done that by his need to keep learning and staying abreast of developments. Not for him a role that portrays him as years younger than his true age; no pretensions to be a college student on screen. He has played his age, selecting roles judiciously, and then given his all to the task at hand — keeping intact his powerful aura, his killer baritone and intense dialogue delivery. The world around him changes; actors come and go, but AB remains the only one who truly matters. And so, AB gyms, blogs, tweets, takes on as many ads and movies as come his way and most important, appears on
Kaun Banega Crorepati, which brings him into our homes every night in his carefully cultivated benevolent grandpa avatar, ensuring a connectivity and relevance far stronger than anything else. KBC helps keep him young, clued in and relevant.
Unlike Rajesh Khanna, AB didn’t really inspire girls to slash their wrists, sponge his photos when he had fever, or write passionate letters in blood — but still, he had something else. By the time Rajesh Khanna died a lonely death, he had become unknown and irrelevant to a new generation who had never watched him on screen. This cannot happen with AB. He has been and always will stay relevant in his lifetime. And this is by no fluke, but through a determination to keep working and stay relevant as long as he can!
Though no star has touched the level of fan frenzy that Rajesh Khanna did, Amitabh has been the only superstar after him. The kind of success that Rajesh Khanna experienced is bound to make anyone narcissistic, insecure, and distrustful – unless one is extremely balanced in both professional and personal life. RK wasn’t; AB is. Caught in the miasma of his own persona, RK couldn’t accept reality and wasted himself away once his movies stopped working… he had become a victim of his own rare success.
Perhaps AB, coming right after this superstar phenomenon, learned from the RK experience. And he has maintained an extremely balanced and mature persona, adapting to ever-changing circumstances, biding his time, before steering life right back to where he wanted it! Discipline, good manners, upbringing, and class are the calling cards he used on his journey and gained the reputation of a great professional… always on time, ready with his dialogues, acing performances, and never disrespectful.
In a world where privacy for a celebrity is non-existent, AB has managed to keep alive a sense of mystique. The world may conjecture all it likes but cannot penetrate the thick walls of Jalsa or Prateeksha to arrive at any truth or fact that AB himself doesn’t want known. What kind of a relationship AB has with his family is a matter of great curiosity for all. And even if all doesn’t seem well in the state of Denmark, nobody can really swear on that. AB keeps his family zealously together – insisting they all follow the family code and what he considers the Bachchan legacy of “dignity, value, creativity and respect.” The curtains are down, and they remain so on his private life.
AB maintains his distance. Scratch the surface, and nobody knows what you will find. More of the sarcasm and anger he portrays so well on screen? A vulnerable artist who prefers his books and piano in whatever free time he gets? A loving Pa who revels in being with his family? Or a cool dude enjoying his success? Well, all one can say with confidence is that he is certainly not just another superstar! The one place he looks most relaxed and alive is on the sets of KBC, where he seems to play his true self. But is that really his true self? Who can say with a consummate actor such as him? They say nobody knows the real Amitabh Bachchan. Not even Amitabh himself.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call AB lovable – Much like the feared patriarch of the family, he can be respected from afar, even admired, and emulated; you can be proud of him, but you wouldn’t dare to love him now, would you? And what does he really feel about those who are most responsible for his success – his audience? Does he love them? Or does he just about tolerate them? Who is to say! Maybe not even AB himself!
All said and done, AB has gone beyond celebrity or superstar now. He is a national treasure. He belongs to no one, and yet all own him.
Happy Birthday Mr. Bachchan! And many more to come…
