The living hero of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan was born in Allahabad on 11th October 1942. His active years started from 1969 and the sun has not started to set as yet. His wife, Jaya Bhaduri, is an actress once renowned for her spontaneous free acting.
His mother, Teji Bachchan was a Sikh lady. His father, Harivansh Rai Bachchan was Hindu. The latter was a well-known poet in Urdu and Hindi literature. Dr. Harivansh’s last name was Srivastava but he adopted the pen name of Bachchan in the publishing world. For all practical purposes this has become the name of the family.
Amitabh was a student of Allahabad Boy’s School. After this he went Sherwood College in Nainital and majored in the art stream. He then earned a science degree from Kirori Mal College in Delhi. For sometime he worked as a freight broker of a shipping firm, Bird & Co in Calcutta but gave it up answering to the call of acting.
His acting career started with Saat Hindustani. He is one of the highest paid actors. Bachchan hit the box office for the first time with Zanjeer showing that he was not just a man for action roles. In Chupke Chupke he is seen in a comic role and in Kabhe Kabhe and Silsila as romantic heroes. In 1982 he was critically injured on the sets of Coolie. This publicity made the film a box office success. He was given the award of Best Actor for the films – Amar Akbar Anthony, Don, Hum and Black; the Filmfare Power Award – 2004; Lifetime Achievement Award 1991 and adjudged Super Star of the Millennium 2000.
Amitabh got drawn into politics because of his friendship with Rajiv Gandhi. At Allahabad the Bachchans were neighbours of the Nehru family. Amitabh contested against Bahuguna and won by a large majority. His political career drew to a close with his name being linked to the Bofors scandal of Rajib Gandhi.
Next he jumped into business and set up Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited. It dealt with everything to do with the film industry – products and services. But the stars were against him. The company ran into heavy losses. He joined the camp of Mulayam Singh and his wife became a member of the Samajwadi Party and also a Rajya Sabha Member. Recently the failure of Mulayam at the elections has again made things uncomfortable for Amitabha over a certain land deal where he had got the certificate of being a farmer.
In 1973 he married Jaya according to Bengali Hindu rites. They have two children – daughter Sweta and son Abhishek. His son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai are both renowned in the acting world.
Amitabh Bachchan is not just an actor – he also produces films and was till recently the anchor the game show kaun banega crorepati.However his acting and appearances in television commercials and advertisements as brand ambassador is standing him in good stead. He remains the beloved icon of India’s millions.
his young photo
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