Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan (IPA: [?m?'ta?b? 'b?tt??

n]; born 11 October 1942) is

an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s for movies l
ike Deewar and Zanjeer, and was dubbed India's first "angry young man" for his o
n-screen roles in Bollywood, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in
a career spanning more than four decades.[3][4] Bachchan is widely regarded as o
ne of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema.[
5][6][7] So total was his dominance of the movie scene in the 1970s and 1980s th
at the French director Franois Truffaut called him a "one-man industry."[8][9]
Bachchan has won many major awards in his career, including three National Film
Awards as Best Actor (a record he shares with Kamal Hassan and Mammootty), a num
ber of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies and fourteen
Filmfare Awards. He is the most-nominated performer in any major acting category
at Filmfare, with 39 nominations overall. In addition to acting, Bachchan has w
orked as a playback singer, film producer and television presenter. He also had
a stint in politics in the 1980s.
The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1984, the Padma Bhus
han in 2001 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015 for his contributions to the arts.
The Government of France honoured him with it's highest civilian honour Knight o
f the Legion of Honour in 2007 for his exceptional career in the world of cinema
and beyond.[10]
Bachchan made his Hollywood debut in 2013 with The Great Gatsby, in which he pla
yed a non-Indian Jewish character, Meyer Wolfsheim.
Contents [hide]
1 Early and personal life
2 Career
2.1 Early work: 1969 1972
2.2 Rise to stardom: 1973 1983
2.3 1982 injury while filming Coolie
2.4 Politics: 1984 87
2.5 Slump and retirement: 1988 1992
2.6 Producer and acting comeback 1996 99
2.7 Return to prominence: 2000 present
2.8 Television career
2.9 Voice
3 Humanitarian causes
4 Awards, honours and recognitions
5 Selected filmography
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
Early and personal life
See also: Bachchan family
Bachchan was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, in north central India.[11] His f
ather Harivansh Rai Bachchan was a Hindi poet and his mother Teji Bachchan was a
Punjabi Sikh from Faisalabad, Punjab.[12] Bachchan was initially named Inquilaa
b, inspired by the phrase Inquilab Zindabad popularly used during the Indian ind
ependence struggle. In English, Inquilab Zindabad means "long live the revolutio
n." However at the suggestion of fellow poet Sumitranandan Pant, Harivansh Rai c
hanged the boy's name to Amitabh, which means "the light that will never die."[c
itation needed] Although his surname was Shrivastava, Amitabh's father had adopt
ed the pen name Bachchan ("child-like" in colloquial Hindi), under which he publ
ished all of his works.[citation needed] It is with this last name that Amitabh
debuted in films and for all other practical purposes, Bachchan has become the s
urname for all of his immediate family.[citation needed] Bachchan's father died
in 2003, and his mother in 2007.[13]

Bachchan is an alumnus of Sherwood College, Nainital. He later attended Kirori M

al College, Delhi University.[14] He has a younger brother, Ajitabh. His mother
had a keen interest in theatre and was offered a feature film role, but she pref
erred her domestic duties. Teji had some influence in Amitabh Bachchan's choice
of career because she always insisted that he should "take the centre stage."[15
]
Bachchan is married to actress Jaya Bhaduri. The couple have two children, Shwet
a Nanda (wife of businessman Nikhil Nanda) and Abhishek Bachchan (actor and husb
and of actress Aishwarya Rai).
Career
Early work: 1969 1972
Bachchan made his film debut in 1969 as a voice narrator in Mrinal Sen's Nationa
l Award winning film Bhuvan Shome.[16] His first acting role was as one of the s
even protagonists in the film Saat Hindustani directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and
featuring Utpal Dutt, Anwar Ali (brother of comedian Mehmood), Madhu and Jalal
Agha.[17][18]
Anand (1971) followed, in which Bachchan starred alongside Rajesh Khanna. His ro
le as a doctor with a cynical view of life garnered Bachchan his first Filmfare
Best Supporting Actor award. He then played his first antagonist role as an infa
tuated lover-turned-murderer in Parwaana (1971). Following Parwaana were several
films including Reshma Aur Shera (1971). During this time, he made a guest appe
arance in the film Guddi which starred his future wife Jaya Bhaduri. He narrated
part of the film Bawarchi. In 1972 he made an appearance in the road action com
edy Bombay to Goa directed by S. Ramanathan. Many of Bachchan's films during thi
s early period did not do well, but that was about to change.[19]
Rise to stardom: 1973 1983
Bachchan and wife Jaya Bhaduri in 2013, the couple got married in 1973, after th
e release of Zanjeer.
Director Prakash Mehra cast him in the leading role for the film Zanjeer (1973)
as Inspector Vijay Khanna. The film was a sharp contrast to the romantically the
med films that had generally preceded it and established Amitabh in a new person
a the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema.[4] Filmfare considers this one of the
most iconic performances of Bollywood history.[19] The film was a huge success
and one of the highest grossing films of that year, breaking Bachchan's dry spel
l at the box office and making him a star.[20] From then onwards, Bachchan becam
e one of the most successful leading men of the film industry. He earned his fir
st Filmfare nomination for Best Actor for Zanjeer. The year 1973 was also when h
e married Jaya, and around this time they appeared in several films together; no
t only in Zanjeer but in films such as Abhimaan which followed and was released
only a month after their marriage and was also successful at the box office. Lat
er, Bachchan played the role of Vikram, once again along with Rajesh Khanna, in
the film Namak Haraam, a social drama directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and scrip
ted by Biresh Chatterjee addressing themes of friendship. His supporting role wo
n him his second Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award.
In 1974, Bachchan made several guest appearances in films such as Kunwara Baap a
nd Dost, before playing a supporting role in Roti Kapda Aur Makaan. The film, di
rected and written by Manoj Kumar, addressed themes of honesty in the face of op
pression and financial and emotional hardship and was the top earning film of 19
74. Bachchan then played the leading role in film Majboor, released on 6 Decembe
r 1974, which was a remake of the Hollywood film Zig Zag. The film was a success
at the box office.[21] In 1975, he starred in a variety of film genres from the
comedy Chupke Chupke, the crime drama Faraar to the romantic drama Mili. 1975 w
as also the year when Bachchan appeared in two films regarded as important in Hi

ndi cinema history. He starred in the Yash Chopra directed film Deewaar along wi
th Shashi Kapoor, Nirupa Roy, and Neetu Singh, earning him a Filmfare nomination
for Best Actor. The film became a major hit at the box office in 1975, ranking
in at number 4.[22] Indiatimes Movies ranks Deewaar amongst the Top 25 Must See
Bollywood Films.[23] Released on 15 August 1975 was Sholay, which became the hig
hest grossing film of 1975 and also of all time in India, earning INR 2,364,500,
000 equivalent to US$60 million, after adjusting for inflation.[24] in which Bac
hchan played the role of Jaidev. In 1999, BBC India declared it the "Film of the
Millennium" and like Deewar, has been cited by Indiatimes movies as amongst the
Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.[23] In that same year, the judges of the 50th
annual Filmfare Awards awarded it with the special distinction award called Film
fare Best Film of 50 Years.
In 1976 he was cast by Yash Chopra in the romantic family drama Kabhie Kabhie. B
achchan starred as a young poet named Amit Malhotra who falls deeply in love wit
h a beautiful young girl named Pooja (Raakhee) who ends up marrying someone else
(Shashi Kapoor). The film was notable for portraying Bachchan as a romantic her
o, a far cry from his "angry young man" roles like Zanjeer and Deewar. The film
evoked a favourable response from critics and audiences alike. Bachchan was agai
n nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award for his role in the film. That sam
e year he played a double role in Adalat as father and son. In 1977, he won his
first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in Amar Akbar Anthony where
he played the third lead opposite Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor as Anthony Gonsa
lves. The film was the highest grossing film of that year. His other successes t
hat year include Parvarish and Khoon Pasina.[25] He once again resumed double ro
les in films such as Kasme Vaade (1978) as Amit and Shankar and Don (1978) playi
ng the characters of Don, a leader of an underworld gang and his look alike Vija
y. His performance won him his second Filmfare Best Actor Award. He also gave to
wering performances in Yash Chopra's Trishul and Prakash Mehra's Muqaddar Ka Sik
andar both of which earned him further Filmfare Best Actor nominations.
In 1979, Bachchan starred in Suhaag which was the highest earning film of that y
ear. In the same year he also enjoyed critical acclaim and commercial success wi
th films like Mr. Natwarlal, Kaala Patthar and The Great Gambler. Amitabh was re
quired to use his singing voice for the first time in a song from the film Mr. N
atwarlal in which he starred with Rekha. Bachchan's performance in the film saw
him nominated for both the Filmfare Best Actor Award and the Filmfare Best Male
Playback Singer award. He also received Best Actor nomination for Kaala Patthar
and then went on to be nominated again in 1980 for the Raj Khosla directed film
Dostana, in which he starred opposite Shatrughan Sinha and Zeenat Aman. Dostana
proved to be the top grossing film of 1980.[26] In 1981, he starred in Yash Chop
ra's melodrama film Silsila, where he starred alongside his wife Jaya and Rekha.
Other films of this period like Shaan (1980), Shakti (1982) which pitted him ag
ainst the veteran actor Dilip Kumar were not successful at the box office but Ra
m Balram (1980), Naseeb (1981) and Lawaaris (1981) were successful.[27]
In 1982 he played double roles in the films Satte Pe Satta and Desh Premee which
succeeded at the box office.[28] In 1983 he played a triple role in Mahaan and
starred in the top grossing film of that year Coolie.[29]
1982 injury while filming Coolie
On 26 July 1982, while filming Coolie in the University Campus in Bangalore, Bac
hchan suffered a near fatal intestinal injury during the filming of a fight scen
e with co-actor Puneet Issar.[30] Bachchan was performing his own stunts in the
film and one scene required him to fall onto a table and then on the ground. How
ever, as he jumped towards the table, the corner of the table struck his abdomen
, resulting in a splenic rupture from which he lost a significant amount of bloo
d. He required an emergency splenectomy and remained critically ill in hospital
for many months, at times close to death. The public response included prayers i
n temples and offers to sacrifice limbs to save him, while later, there were lon

g queues of well-wishing fans outside the hospital where he was recuperating.[31

]
Nevertheless, he resumed filming later that year after a long period of recupera
tion. The film was released in 1983, and partly due to the huge publicity of Bac
hchan's accident, the film was a box office success and the top grossing film th
at year.[32]
The director, Manmohan Desai, altered the ending of Coolie after Bachchan's acci
dent. Bachchan's character was originally intended to have been killed off but a
fter the change of script, the character lived in the end. It would have been in
appropriate, said Desai, for the man who had just fended off death in real life
to be killed on screen. Also, in the released film the footage of the fight scen
e is frozen at the critical moment, and a caption appears onscreen marking this
as the instant of the actor's injury and the ensuing publicity of the accident.[
33]
Later, he was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis. His illness made him feel weak b
oth mentally and physically and he decided to quit films and venture into politi
cs. At this time he became pessimistic, expressing concern with how a new film w
ould be received and stated before every release, "Yeh film to flop hogi!" ("Thi
s film will flop").[34]
Politics: 1984 87
In 1984, Bachchan took a break from acting and briefly entered politics in suppo
rt of long-time family friend, Rajiv Gandhi. He contested Allahabad's seat of 8t
h Lok Sabha against H. N. Bahuguna, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and w
on by one of the highest victory margins in general election history (68.2% of t
he vote).[35] His political career, however, was short-lived: he resigned after
three years, calling politics a cesspool. The resignation followed the implicati
on of Bachchan and his brother in the "Bofors scandal" by a newspaper, which he
vowed to take to court. Bachchan was eventually found not guilty of involvement
in the ordeal.[36]
His old friend, Amar Singh, helped him during a financial crisis due to the fail
ure of his company ABCL. Therefore Bachchan started to support Amar Singh's poli
tical party, the Samajwadi Party. Jaya Bachchan joined the Samajwadi party and b
ecame a Rajya Sabha member.[37] Bachchan has continued to do favours for the Sam
ajwadi party, including advertisements and political campaigns. These activities
have recently gotten him into trouble in the Indian courts for false claims aft
er a previous incident of submission of legal papers by him, stating that he is
a farmer.[38]
A 15-year press ban against Bachchan was imposed during his peak acting years by
Stardust and some of the other film magazines. In his defence, Bachchan claimed
to have banned the press from entering his sets until late 1989.[39]
Slump and retirement: 1988 1992
In 1988, Bachchan returned to films, playing the title role in Shahenshah, which
was a box office success.[40] After the success of his comeback film however, h
is star power began to wane as all of his subsequent films like Jaadugar, Toofan
and Main Azaad Hoon (all released in 1989) failed at the box office. The 1991 h
it film, Hum, for which he won his third Filmfare Best Actor award, looked like
it might reverse the trend, but this momentum was short-lived and his string of
box office failures continued. Notably, despite the lack of hits, it was during
this era that Bachchan won his first National Film Award for Best Actor for his
performance as a Mafia don in the 1990 film Agneepath. These years would see his
last on-screen appearances for some time. After the release of Khuda Gawah in 1
992, Bachchan went into semi-retirement for five years. With the exception of th
e delayed release of Insaniyat (1994), which was also a box office failure, Bach

chan did not appear in any new releases for five years.[41]
Producer and acting comeback 1996 99
Bachchan turned producer during his temporary retirement period, setting up Amit
abh Bachchan Corporation, Ltd. (ABCL) in 1996, with a vision of becoming a 10 bi
llion rupees (approx. U.S. $250 M) premier entertainment company by the year 200
0.[citation needed] ABCL's strategy was to introduce products and services cover
ing an entire cross-section of India's entertainment industry. ABCL's operations
were mainstream commercial film production and distribution, audio cassettes an
d video discs, production and marketing of television software, and celebrity an
d event management.[citation needed] Soon after the company was launched in 1996
, the first film it produced was Tere Mere Sapne, which did not fare well at the
boxoffice but launched the careers of actors like Arshad Warsi and South films
star Simran.[citation needed] ABCL produced a few other films, none of which did
well.[citation needed]
In 1997, Bachchan attempted to make his acting comeback with the film Mrityudata
, produced by ABCL. Though Mrityudaata attempted to reprise Bachchan's earlier s
uccess as an action hero, the film was a failure both financially and critically
.[citation needed] ABCL was the main sponsor of the 1996 Miss World beauty pagea
nt, Bangalore but lost millions. The fiasco and the consequent legal battles sur
rounding ABCL and various entities after the event, coupled with the fact that A
BCL was reported to have overpaid most of its top level managers, eventually led
to its financial and operational collapse in 1997. The company went into admini
stration and was later declared a failed company by Indian Industries board.[cit
ation needed] The Bombay high court, in April 1999, restrained Bachchan from sel
ling off his Bombay bungalow 'Prateeksha' and two flats till the pending loan re
covery cases of Canara Bank were disposed of. Bachchan had, however, pleaded tha
t he had mortgaged his bungalow to raise funds for his company.[42]
Bachchan attempted to revive his acting career and had average success with Bade
Miyan Chote Miyan (1998),[41] and received positive reviews for Sooryavansham (
1999)[43] but other films such as Lal Baadshah (1999) and Hindustan Ki Kasam (19
99) were box office failures.
Return to prominence: 2000 present
Bachchan at the IIFA Awards in 2006
Bachchan with Mohanlal
In 2000, Amitabh Bachchan appeared in Yash Chopra's box-office hit, Mohabbatein,
directed