Winter of '42

Out of the few Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) episodes that I have watched, I remember one where the man in the hot seat was a Senior Bank Manager from Nagpur. Performing his usual ritual, Amitabh Bachchan (AB) pointed towards the participant's wife and introduced her. The fifty year old manager told AB, “She’s a huge fan of you, back in 1975 when we got engaged she asked me to show on of your latest films. That year, 'Don' was released. We went and saw it, what a movie!"
AB interrupted him and blushing from ear-to-ear said, "Yeah, it was an old film, nothing like the films they make today". The man in the hot seat said, "No Sir! It was a great film; they don't make such movies anymore. I have one request though, please come as our Prime Minister and save this country!"
That's Amitabh, the way we Indians see him.
(No wonder he defeated the political heavyweight Bahuguna by a margin of more than two lakh votes in his debut as a politician)

One of the fondest memories of my childhood has been going to watch Amar Akbar Anthony on a cycle with my dad at a theatre far far off. I remember why I liked the film. Amitabh lived till the end, unlike the previous one where he died. To my nubile mind, that was all that separated a good movie from a bad one!
Needless to say, unlike most of his successful movie endings, he lives on. He lives on with his larger than life persona and unending charisma entertaining audiences with his intensity and dry wit.

He has been the quintessential star that Hindi film cinema has seen, and if I may, will ever see. Like a bottle of fine wine, he keeps maturing into a finer performer with every passing year. While all his contemporaries have already retired or are battling with dwindling political careers, Amitabh keeps adding a new feather every year. The charismatic anchor in KBC, the schizophrenic police inspector in Aks, villain in Aankhein...........the list just grows on.

While many of us go with the popular opinion that Amitabh was the archetypal 'angry young man', many Indian directors differ from this opinion. Yash Chopra believes that his potential for romance is yet untapped and since Silsila did not succeed on the box-office, that aspect of his personality was never really explored. (Though Chopra himself tried it with the classic romantic...Kabhie-Kabhie).
Hrishikesh Mukherjee, one of the greatest mainstream directors Indian cinema has seen, who worked with AB in Chupke-Chupke, Mili, Abhimaan, Anand etc. was once asked to rank the best ten actors of his times. His answer...one to ten Amitabh!

He has turned sixty now, completing more than thirty years of entertaining people from all spheres of life. The last decade saw the return of his Midas touch, here's sincerely hoping that he does that for many more decades to come!

I can go on and on (trust me, I can) but will end with one of my favorite lines, picturised on Amitabh
tujhko mujhko jeevan amrit ab in haathon se peenaa hai
inkee dhadkan mein basnaa hai, inkee sanson mein jeenaa hai
tu apnii adaein baksh inhein, main apnii wafaein detaa huun
jo apne liye sochin thi kabhi, vo saari duaaein detaa huun