Amitabh Bachchan turned a tall 67 on Oct. 11. Here are 67 facts — most of them not so commonly known — about the man who was called a one-man industry at his peak.
• Amitabh Harivanshrai Srivastav was born in Allahabad as the son of one of the greatest 20th century Hindi poets, Harvanshrai Bachchan, and his wife Teji, an affluent family close to the Gandhi family.
• His father was considering naming him “Inquilab” (which means “revolution”) before fixing on Amitabh, which means “brilliance unlimited.”
• Today he stands at 74 inches or 1.88 m, the tallest-ever top star in Hindi cinema.
• Educated at Sherwood College, Nainital, and Kirori Mal College, Delhi University (he is a double Master of Arts), he worked in Kolkata for the shipping firm Shaw & Wallace as an executive and later worked as a freight broker for Bird and Co. It was then that he bought a second-hand Fiat as his first car.
• His baritone voice saw two rejections from the All India Radio. Ameen Sayani, radio ace, turned him down too in Mumbai and is now glad he did so, because had he given him a break, movies might never have happened and Sayani’s career (as Sayani now quips) could have been threatened!
• Sunil Dutt signed him for a mute’s role in “Reshma Aur Shera” because of a letter of introduction from Indira Gandhi, then prime minister, to her friend Nargis — Amitabh was Rajiv Gandhi’s friend.• He was the first star from Asia to be immortalized in Madame Tussaud’s in London, and was named Actor of the Millennium in a BBC News Poll ahead of Charlie Chaplin, Sir Lawrence Olivier and Marlon Brando.
• Bachchan was paid Rs. 1,000 for his debut film, K.A. Abbas’s “Saat Hindustani,” on the sets of which he struck a lifelong friendship with Tinnu Anand.
• In Mumbai, Bachchan frequented a fuel station in his struggling phase. On the day “Anand” was released, he had filled up in the morning. The same evening when he returned for more, everyone recognized him!
• Bachchan married Jaya Bhaduri in 1973 after a long courtship. Eyewitnesses and supporters of their romance included actress Nadira, who worked with them in their first film together, “Ek Nazar” (1972), and common mentor Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
• Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri came together in very unusual ways. Jaya was “Guddi” (1971) in which a sequence from Bachchan’s “Parwana” was shown and he played himself. Jaya was credited with the story idea of his “Shahenshah” (1988). Bachchan was considered as hero for “Guddi” but Hrishikesh Mukherjee decided to cast him in “Anand” instead.
• “Saat Hindustani” is his only black-and-white film.
• Bachchan has acted in two offbeat Hindi films, “Saat Hindustani” (1969) and “Main Azaad Hoon” (1989), and both films have just one song in different parts with a single playback singer. Coincidentally, both songs were written by Kaifi Azmi, and the latter film had Bachchan as the singer.
• Earlier to his full-fledged singing debut in “Mr. Natwarlal,” he spoke a few lines in “Humka aisa waisa na samjho” sung by Mukesh in Kalyanji-Anandji’s “Adalat” and “My name is Anthony Gonsalves” sung by Kishore Kumar in Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s “Amar Akbar Anthony” (both 1977). He sang two more songs with Kishore (“Sharaabi” and “Kaun Jeeta Kaun Haara”), and recorded a song each with Rafi (“Naseeb”) and Lata (“Silsila”) when “live” recordings were the norm.
• He is the only top actor, who is not a singing star, to have sung in over 20 films.
• The face of the Indian comic book character Supremo is based on him.
• Despite his near-fatal accident and subsequent myasthenia gravis (a muscular disorder), Bachchan jumped himself from a height of 30 feet for a sequence in home production “Aks.”
• He is the only actor to have had a minimum one jubilee a year from 1971 (“Anand”) to 1988 (“Shahenshah”). He had no release in 1987, except for a cameo in the success “Jalwa”!
• He acted in 19 Golden Jubilees between 1973 and 1984, with four in 1978 and at least one every year. He had two more Golden Jubilees in the millennium.
• He has played double roles oftener than anyone else, in “Bandhe Hath” (1972), “Adalat” (1977), “Don” and “Kasme Vaade” (1978), “The Great Gambler” (1979), “Bemisaal”,”Desh Premee” and “Satte Pe Satta” (1982), “Aakhree Raasta” (1986), “Toofan” (1989), “Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan” (1998) and “Lal Baadshah” (1999) and “Sooryavansham” (1999). In “Mahaan” (1983) he had a triple role.
• Bachchan was first choice for Shashi Kapoor’s “Utsav” (a role that Shashi himself did) and “King Uncle” (Jackie Shroff); and Salim-Javed had originally written “Mr. India” with Bachchan in mind.
• He dubbed for 23 scenes in 5 hours, a record, for “Shootout At Lokhandwala.”
• In “Slumdog Millionaire,” Amitabh Bachchan is the answer to Jamal’s first question in the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?,” “Who was the star in the 1973 hit film ‘Zanjeer’?” The real-life version of the quiz show, “Kaun Banega Crorepati,” had Bachchan as quizmaster in the first two seasons and was his comeback and Star Plus’ channel driver.
• Amitabh-Jaya is the only real-life couple to have starred on-screen for 30 years from “Ek Nazar” to “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…”(2001), a film released 28 years after their marriage.
• Amitabh now plays the son (!) of Abhishek Bachchan in “Paa.”
• Amitabh and son Abhishek Bachchan have played unrelated characters in “Bunty Aur Babli,” “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom” and “Shootout…” — in the last, they never shared a frame — and father and son in “Sarkar,” “Sarkar Raj,” “Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.”
• They also starred in “Ek Ajnabee” in which Abhishek made a cameo. Bachchan played Abhishek’s grandfather in “Delhi-6.” In both they never shared frames.
• He is the only actor who has played God (“God Tussi Great Ho”), ghost (“Bhoothnath,” “Delhi-6”) and genie (“Aladin”).
• He has yet to work with Aamir Khan, though he was narrator in his production “Lagaan.” He was also the voice of God in Salman Khan’s home production “Hello Brother.”
• He is the only actor to have starred in a kind of remake of his own film as hero, “Sholay,” in a different role: he was the villain in “Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag.” He starred in two different films called “Deewaar,” in 1975 and 2004.
• A.R. Rahman has scored music for three films in which he was involved, but has never composed a song for him.
• Besides composers mentioned earlier, R.D. Burman, Bappi Lahiri (in a few recited lines only), Amar-Utpal, Shiv-Hari, Aadesh Shrivastava, Anu Malik, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal-Shekhar, Vishal Bhardwaj, Indrajit Sharma and Usha Khanna have also made him sing. Jatin-Lalit’s song in “Aankhen” was scrapped.
• In non-film albums, Bachchan sang the entire “Aby Baby” and was a part of Adnan Sami’s album “Tera Chehra” (the track “Kabhi nahin” with Adnan).
• His first English film “Boom” (2003) saw him get a vicious feedback from his fans for his lecherous role. The same was repeated with “Nishabd.”
• He also starred in home productions of Sunil Dutt, Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Shah Rukh Khan.
• He worked in Mehmood’s “Bombay To Goa” and essayed cameos in his “Garam Masala” (1972), “Kunwara Baap” and “Ginny Aur Johnny.” Mehmood was his mentor too.
• He was to do films that never took off — “Lambuji Thinguji” and “Jaahil” respectively — with Amjad Khan and Kader Khan as directors.
• Kalyanji-Anandji helped him in his struggling days and even introduced him to Prakash Mehra.
• This reporter watched him enact “Mere angne mein” on stage in 1974, seven years before it was used in “Laawaris.”
• The above song, “Rang barse” from “Silsila” and some lyrics from “Alaap” were penned by his father, Dr. Harvanshrai Bachchan.
• Among his loyal filmmakers, only Hrishikesh Mukherjee cast him in a common man’s role frequently (doctor, professor etc.) and never did an action movie.
• Starting with “Bhuvn Shome” (1969) even before he turned actor, “Bawarchi” (1972) and “Shatranj Ke Khiladi” (1976), Bachchan has been narrator in over a dozen films, including an international project, “La marche de l'empereur” (2005), a documentary on penguins.
• Beginning with “Guddi” (1971), he has played himself in over 12 films in cameos.
• He supported technicians who turned filmmakers, like art director Desh Mukherjee (“Imaan Dharam”), writers Prayag Raj (“Coolie”, “Geraftaar”) and Rumi Jaffrey (“God Tussi Great Ho”), cinematographer Nariman Irani (“Don”) and fight composer Veeru Devgan (“Hindustan Ki Kasam”).
• He also did proper romantic roles opposite supporting actresses and vamps like Padma Khanna (“Saudagar”), Bindu (“Abhimaan”), Aroona Irani (“Bombay To Goa”, “Sanjog”) and Helen (“Imaan Dharam,” “Don”).
• He will reunite with Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor, with whom he formed the “Amar Akbar Anthony” trio, in Mayur Puri’s forthcoming directorial debut.
• Apart from writing his first full song as singer, “Mere paas aao mere doston ek kissa suno” (“Mr. Natwarlal”), Anand Bakshi wrote the first two songs lip-synched by him (“Pyar Ki Kahani”) and the first ABCL film, “Tere Mere Sapne.”
• Sensing his potential as an actor, Shashi Kapoor deleted his scene as a junior artist playing a mourner from the English film “Bombay Talkie.” They co-starred in a dozen films later, with Bachchan doing “Ajooba,” produced and directed by Shashi Kapoor. • Shashi had been the first choice for “Anand,” Bachchan’s first hit, but after his secretary acted pricey, the role went to Rajesh Khanna!