The Cult of Amitabh, A Glimpse into the Making of an Indian Icon

At any given time of the day, more than 1,00,000 people are watching a tall, dark, lanky figure sing, dance, and battle the forces of evil on the screen. Every year, an estimated 40 million Indians see his films, and when he leaves his elegant house in Bombay’s Juhu-Villa Parle Scheme, film industry investments worth a staggering Rs 50 crores* ride on him. So much in demand is film idol Amitabh Bachchan, that producers are told that they cannot expect shooting dates before 1983. 

Naturally, Bachchan does quite well out of this situation. He is said to charge between Rs 15 to 20 lakh per film, and according to one estimate, earned an average of Rs 36,000 a day last year.

His cult following verges on the incredible. And an inconsolable young boy was brought all the way from Germany because after seeing Sholay, he thought that his hero had died. Bachchan once received a call from a doctor in Bombay’s Nanavati Hospital, who said a girl in a coma after a severe fall kept calling the name of the Amitabh character in Amar Akbar Anthony. When the girl gained consciousness, she would not eat until Amitabh himself fed her. “That incident really shook me,” he says.

(L to R) Bachchan, with his Sholay castmates, Dharmender, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan

His presence on a city street is enough to draw hundreds of fans. A mountain of mail from every corner of the world arrives by each post, with letters containing both adulation and propositions. All over India, barbers try to lure customers by offering ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ haircuts, and men attempt to copy his intense, measured manner of speaking. At 38, Amitabh Bachchan is a certified superstar, Bombay’s top actor and one of India’s most recognizable faces.

Theatrical Lure 

To film industry insiders who have seen other cinema idols have their moments of glory and fade away, Bachchan’s is a cult above the rest. He looks unlike other Bombay film stars, lacking the delicate, almost effeminate features of some, and the heavy macho image of others. In an industry where outrageous clothes and flashy jewellery are the vogue, he gets by in a pair of corduroy trousers and a T-shirt. And while every top star makes a fetish of arriving late on the sets and surrounding himself with a coterie of chamchas, Bachchan is invariably punctual and easily approachable. The difference may lie in his background and in the fact that he went into films at the relatively late age of 27.

The son of Harivanshrai Bachchan, the Hindi poet, he grew up in Allahabad and Delhi, numbering Rajiv and the late Sanjay Gandhi among his close friends. Educated at Sherwood College and Elite Public School in Nainital and the Delhi University’s Kirori Mal College, from where he got his BSc., Bachchan worked for a couple of commercial firms in Kolkata after graduation. Five years as an executive, however, were more than enough for him. Says Bachchan, “I was merely pushing files around.”

He began to search for a diversion and founded an amateur English theatre. Soon, his acting talent became the talk of what was known as the city’s boxwallah circuit. Egged on by younger brother Ajitabh, who now manages his business affairs, he began seriously to consider a film career. His mother, Teji, tried to dissuade him. “We told him it was foolish to give up a job that paid Rs 1,200 a month and included a car and a house,” she recalls.

No Looking Back

But Bachchan was adamant, and in 1969, he moved to Bombay where K. A. Abbas gave him his first break in Saat Hindustani. Anand, his second film, was a big success. Then his luck ran out, and he went through an idle phase till 1973, when Prakash Mehera’s Zanjeer became a spectacular hit.

Bachchan’s next films, Namak Haraam and Abhimaan, also clicked with film-goers, and by the time Deewaar and Sholey were released in 1975, he was the country’s top star. Since then, films like Amar Akbar Anthony, Mr. Natwarwal and Mukaddar Ka Sikandar have helped maintain his position.

Before his success, Bachchan had found it difficult to get work because he was considered too tall and not sufficiently good-looking. But in the early 1970s, the dominant theme of Hindi cinema changed. As violent, action-packed melodrama replaced family situation drama, his height and rugged appearance became an asset in films where he had to use his fist in virtually every reel. The roles he played were those of the anti-hero, an angry young man who took the law into his own hands as in Deewar, when he played a character based on smuggler, Haji Mastan. With Bachchan’s films, the Hindi cinema finally broke free from the ‘Pretty Boy Hero of Convention’, and virtually every Amitabh film became a superhit.

A Family Man

But being number one has not made life much easier for Bachchan, who puts in a 15-hour day, six days a week. He spends Sunday at home with his wife Jaya, daughter Shweta, six, and son Abhishek, four. In the winter, he occasionally escapes to a beachside shack at Madh Island. But regardless of where he is, one rule applies: no visitors.

“I don’t like meeting people,” says Amitabh. “We are a close-knit family, and I prefer spending time at home. While most of Bombay’s film stars mouth platitudes about how much their family means to them, Bachchan is one of the few who appears to mean it.

Indeed, at times, the Bachchans give the impression of being an old-style Hindu undivided family. On holidays, the entire family, (Amitabh’s parents included), goes off together either to the beach shack or to a nearby hill-station.

Bachchan, in a scene from the film Hum (1991)

Amitabh is an enthusiastic photographer and has taken thousands of pictures of his children. He is less enthusiastic about his work on the other side of the camera, however, and regards acting as a job. He feels uncomfortable when he has to sing and dance and fears that his roles are becoming repetitive. Recently, he shot the same scene (with minor variations) for five different films. At another time, he died in seven consecutive roles. “I ran out of ways to die,” he recalls wryly. “You can die laughing, crying, speaking, or while in pain, but after that, what?”

Massive Following

Even so, for a man who also says he is shy, the role reversal once the arc lights are turned on, is astounding. Minutes before a shooting, he will be discussing the merits of a Tennessee Williams play or a Scott Fitzgerald novel. But once called to the set, he will joke loudly with assistant directors or playfully punch stuntmen. The shot over, he will return to his dressing room and resume his intense conversation.

An acquaintance recalls saying to Bachchan that for a man who claimed to be embarrassed by the things he had to do, he seemed to be enjoying himself. “Ah, that’s the real acting!” retorted Amitabh.

It worries him when people seem unable to distinguish between the tough character he plays on the screen and the real Amitabh Bachchan. “My son expects me to fight tigers,” he complains. Once during a rumpus, some hoodlums hit a colleague on the head. Bachchan rushed to the spot. “I was amazed when they all stepped back,” recalls Amitabh, “even though they outnumbered us.”

He is, however, intelligent enough to turn this confusion of image and man to his advantage. In 1979, while shooting for Yaraana in Kolkata, the producer invited a few thousand people to fill up a stadium for a sequence. Inevitably, five times the number turned up, and as the day wore on, the crowd grew restive. Finally, when the overwrought police beat up an excited spectator, the mob rioted and set part of the stadium on fire. Over the public address system, Bachchan admonished the policeman. Thrilled that their hero had taken their part, the mob quieted down and order was restored.

Nevertheless, there is a danger to Bachchan’s talent in his image. To act in radically different films would be to risk commercial failure. An option would be to act abroad. And though Bachchan says he has no desire to do so, his magic has begun to be noticed in the international film circuit. Recently, Hollywood producer Alain Chammas tried unsuccessfuly to sign Amitabh for Crossings opposite Richard Dreyfus. When he was told that Bachchan’s time was booked for the next two years, Chammas remarked to him in exasperation, “You’re not a star, you’re an industry!”

Editor’s note: Since his meteoric rise, Bachchan quickly became a household name and has remained so across a career that spans over six decades. Despite facing challenges such as bankruptcy, scandals, an unsuccessful attempt at politics and health issues, the now 82-year-old still remains one of the few bankable stars capable of delivering memorable performances in both blockbusters—Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001); Aankhen (2002)—and critically acclaimed, character-driven dramas—Black, (2005) Paa (2009), and Piku (2015), and has even made his mark in Hollywood—The Great Gatsby (2013) and Teen Patti (2010).

From Reader's Digest April 1981; First published in India Today 1980 ©India Today, 1980

(*Rs 1,000 in 1981 would be equivalent to around Rs 21,000 today)