Amitabh Bachhan: India’s First Megastar

Amitabh Bachhan has won top honours yet again in the 55^th Filmfare Awards. Is there any Bollywood movie award that the ageing actor is yet to win? Probably not. The achievements of greats of yester years like Dilip Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra.............pale into insignificance when juxtaposed with those of Bacchan senior. However, the appetite for achievement of the Sean Connery of Bollywood (as some people call him) seems far from over. His performances in 'Black', 'Sarkar'.....................and now 'Paa' bear testimony to the fact that the fire in his belly refuses to die down. While most of his contemporaries...........Shashi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Rajesh Khanna ............... and so on, have long since disappeared into oblivion, it is 'Never say Die' for India's first Megastar.

What more is the sexagenarian chasing? Fame, Glory, Achievement, or is it just more Money. Surely money is not something that is far removed from his mind, given his endorsements which continue to grow, his intermittent stints on the small screen as game show host, where he is reported to be charging astronomical sums and of course his acting career which continues to go from strength to strength.

A few of his actions though, seemed incongruous with his personality recently, when he used his position of a TV show anchor(Big Boss 3) to promote not only his film 'Paa', but also his son's debut as a game show host on the small screen 'Bingo'. With all due respect to the great man, The Big B commands a larger than life image, his actions therefore, appeared quite ordinary and not in keeping with his persona.

Coming back to what I was discussing, if it were not money that Amitji is after, what is it? Surely it cannot be Filmfare Awards. The great man's absence from the Awards ceremony, where Vidya Balan accepted the award on his behalf, speaks of the importance that this award holds for him. Bagging such awards for him would probably be just passé. I have no clue. What seems clear though is that he is in no mood to retire any time soon.

What the Big B should be looking for, in that case, is awards on the international stage, in particular the OSCAR. No Bollywood (or should we call it Mollywood, lest Raj Thakeray should get offended) movie so far has ever won an Oscar. 'Mother India', 'Salaam Bombay' and 'Lagaan' are the only ones that have been nominated. Wonder if it would be pertinent to mention here that none of these was a Bacchan starrer.

I think it is about time to set that record straight. Though the Big B is not a producer, just an actor, maybe he could put his energies into something that would ensure his place in History for posterity. Is the Big B, or anyone else in Bollywood up to the challenge? One person who i my humble opinion might have it in him, is Shekhar Kapoor. Time to do another 'Masoom', Mr Kapoor.

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A very Happy and Colourful Holi to all readers.