Sunday, June 21, 2020

Amitabh Bachchan - Perseverance Personified


Amitabh Bachchan - Perseverance Personified
The Big B Amitabh Bachchan, came into entertainment industry in 1969-70, the time when he had to play second fiddle to the greats of those years.  Then with Zanjeer, he broke all shackles and zoomed to stardom ruling the industry with almost every movie being a big hit
Misfortune struck when he met a Near Death Experience while shooting for the movie Coolie, he was out of business for a while and almost written off; but he bounced back and how!  The secret again was - Tremendous grit and perseverance indeed.
Then ABCL happened, and people wrote him off, looking at his huge losses, debts and controversies.  He may have gone through his share of woes, till KBC happened; and once again he was back in business, rising from the ashes like the legendary bird Phoenix.  With his perseverance he repaid every rupee and regained the glory that was the middle name of Big B.  He justified the legendary song, “A man and his will to survive”.
From Zanjeer to Gulabo Sitabo, he has had a long journey of over 5 decades; failures must have been there, but undeterred; he just moved on, accepting roles all and sundry, not knowing what appeals the audience. Probably this dialogue from his movie Sarkar sums it up for him; Mujhe jo sahi lagta hai main karta hoon, fir chahe wo bhagwan ke khilaaf ho, kanoon ke khilaf ho ya pure system ke khilaaf.
Today, at the ripe age of 78, he is one of the busiest actors with assignments of movies, TV, Commercial ads, Social Message Commercials, OTT movies and all that is needed for screen presence. Here, I would like to quote his dear friend Shatruji, from one of his interview -“Iss umar mein bhi Paa, Pink aur Piku jaisi picture sirf Amitji hee kar sakte hai, aur koi nahin.” How true indeed.  From the stern faced Narayan Shankar of Mohabatein to the young at heart Dattatraya Vakharia in 102 Not Out, he has been a man who intrigues every spectator with his versatility, and as I mentioned earlier, Perseverance.
His long fleet of cars, his assets worth thousands of crores, and all that one would aspire in life, he proudly possesses, but his greatest trait is - humility; willingness to work with anybody and everybody, and respect for his co-artistes.  All this apart, his unconditional love and respect for his parents, is a lesson for all of us to emulate; as he has often quoted this to be his secret for success. 
Big B is indeed Perseverance Personified, and even after 50 years in this entertainment industry, his dialogue from 1981 hit Kaalia, “Hum jahan khade ho jaate hain, line wahi se shuru hoti hai”, holds good.  He still is a force to reckon.
The grit, determination and perseverance of Big B is a lesson for all of us.  Long live Amitabh Bachchan ji.
Prakash F Madhwani              21st June 2020

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