Not many people can boast of their struggle in life from being a discarded to being a superhero to the middle of controversy and bouncing back again to old status.
Fall from superstardom has ended several lives or careers, may it be Guru Dutt, Shailendra, Manmohan Desai or Rajesh Khanna (especially a sudden end to career in the last case). It needs a man of steel to bounce back. It needs an Amitabh Bachchan…
I have divided this review into the various ups and downs in his career.
The list of the films that he did (As per this classification) are available in the comments.
The Struggling Star (1969-1973)
When this tall and lanky man with a heavy voice approached some director, he was turned away as he did not fit the hero’s image. Rather he was asked to try for radio. But he did not quit. He tried with a few small roles here and there. In this era, he proved that irrespective of the producer or director, if you do a sincere job, your performance is noticed. Even though he made his deview when Rajesh Khanna’s career was on the upwards, still it did not take him long to surge ahead.
In this period, he did a total of 23 films (including narration and guest appearance) of which most went un noticed. However, his performance stood out in most of them even though the movies were centered or aimed at other popular stars. The examples are Anand (Rajesh Khanna), Bombay to Goa (Mehmood) and even a villain’s role in Parwana!! However, he got his big break with Zanjeer and Abhimaan releasing in the same year, which were good enough to jumpstart his career.
Star Rating for this period:
The Superstar (1974 – 1979)
It did not take long for this talented actor to be a superstar from a struggling actor. Once Zanjeer was a hit, there was no looking back. In fact, 1975 saw two of his (and Indian cinema’s) all time greats releasing: sholay and Deewar. Hits started flooding in and he became the most sellable star, ahead of Rajesh Khanna and Dharmender. Big directors like Prakash Mehra and Manmohan Desai patronized him and we saw an era, where nothing else mattered as long as Amitabh was there. Sadly enough, that also meant the decreased importance of heroines, quality music and other actors in lead roles. It also meant the rise of a few others, like Pran, Amzad Khan, Ranjeet and Sashi Kapoor in quality roles. Movies started being written keeping him in mind and it worked. It was the golden era of box office.
Out of the 39 films that he did in this period, most were hot box office property. Many worked, in spite of being nothing but action-massala films. In his films, undoubtedly he was the star and nothing else mattered. He tried out a range of performances, though the angry-young man was the most dominating.
Star Rating for this period:
The Demigod (1980-1986)
Many will not agree with “Demigod”… he was treated as God in this era. Never ever have we seen this popularity of any individual in India. I have heard of people sleeping at the ticket counters before the release of his movies!! So much so that, when he had the near-fatal accident during a shooting, many were eager to sacrifice their own lives to save this man!! The result? We saw some of the horrible movies passing as great hits!!
The 31 films in this era marked many box office grosser, but most of them were aimed at treating him at a larger than life level. Qualitatively, he gave a very few good films (Silsila, Bemisaal, Yaaraana being the most notable) but a host of popular movies for the front rows (Coolie, Mard, Inqelab etc.). Looking back, I think this is a trend that prompted the series of imitated cheap action films by other stars (Mithun, Jacki Shroff etc.) and ultimately leading to a dark era of Hindi Films.
Star Rating for this period:
The Fallen Star (1987 – 1999)
Many people have the difficulty in accepting their fall in status quo and still long to be treated as they were at their hay days. Amitabh was after all human. This era saw him in a forgettable political career, scandals and failed business. To add to these, directors went on making movies on him still in the angry young man role, forgetting his age. By this time Indian audience was no more willing to accept him as it is.
The 31 films in this time marked a couple of comeback films and a couple of “last films of Amitabh”!! But it did not sell. Most of them were flops and he was fast losing ground.
Star Rating: for this period:
The Comeback (2000 onwards)
Ironically enough, it was a TV series, that marked his comeback to public eye. With a different persona and different kind of roles, he played his age. The audience accepted him and it went on as a cyclic process. What we see today is the much adored and respected Amitabh.. the man, who is bigger then life itself.
In the 25 movies that he has done (many being narrator such as Lagaan), he has given us some real quality stuff and for a change we are seeing that the center of attraction need not be a young man running around the trees. He is going great guns and all my wishes are with him…. He has miles to go and miles to go….
Star Rating: for this period:
That’s all from me… I’ll soon follow-up with 10 best and 10 worst of this great man. Please refer to the comments for the list of his films.
I know the review is quite long already, but I won’t do justice if I don’t consolidate. So a few more paragraphs….
AB and his Directors:
AB was patronized by directors of his time like Manmohan Desai (AAA, Naseeb, Mard), Prakash Mehra (Zanjeer, Muqaddar ka Sikander, Sharabi) and the Sippys (Sholay, Shaan, Shakti)…. The seemed to have found a gold mine with him. However, it was Prakash Mehra who stood out for quality movies and Manmohan Desai for mass movies. May not be in the band wagon, but Yash Chopra (Silsila, Kabhie Kabhie, Deewar) and Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Anand, Mili, Chupke Chupke) came ou with some real gems with Amitabh.
AB and his Heroines:
Sadly enough, at the peak of AB, only his presence sold the film and hence the script writes and the directors compromised on the heroines. There was not much of a significant role given to the heroines (other than a few hand counted movies like Muqadder ka Sikander, Silsila etc.) and AB was teamed up with almost every actress of that era…. From veterans like Waheeda Rehman to the new comers like Amrita Singh. Still, the heroines who left their mark are Rekha, Rakhi, Zeenat Amman and Parveen Babi. Jaya Bhadui was a regular heroine before he became a superstar and she had a good share (if not the better share) in the movies.
AB and his Co Actors:
Some actors found a new lease of life with AB. They include Pran in a new Avtar, Amzad Khan, Ranjith, Kader Khan etc. Comedians had a increasingly decreasing presence as AB himself did great comedy. He acted with many of the mega stars of the era, from Dillip Kumar to Sanjeev Kumar, Satrughan Sinha, Vinod Kumar and Dharmendra. Probably the only star who had a goods share in his movies was Sashi Kapoor.
Trivia:
He has done 12 double roles and 1 tripple role.
In 17 movies he has been named as Vijay.
Amit is the next regular name for him… 8 movies!!!
