What is there to say about an actor that has withstood the vagaries of time for over 40 years? Governments in India changed, the Indian economy metamorphosed, India went from being known as a country where westerners came to ‘soul-search’ and smoke Ganja with Sadhus to one having the best brains in IT, the tiny-tots of movie stars went on to follow their illustrious (and some not-so illustrious) fathers/mothers’ footsteps in Bombay and the regional film industries, the Indian film music scene was revolutionized by the advent of Mr. A.R. Rahman and later by being the first Indian-born musician to win an Oscar (and more importantly, still operating from India!)-but one man, only the one man, held most of the nation enthralled with his histrionics year after year, decade after decade. That this actor’s following just cuts across generations is proof enough that one might like or hate him, nobody—and I repeat, nobody—can touch him with a barge pole and say he isn’t an accomplished actor. Whether the person is a stead-fast loyalist of the old-world charm of the likes of Mr. Motilal or Mr. Dilip Kumar; whether the person’s frame of reference is the new school of ‘acting’ dominated by 8-pack-abs- first- and-acting-later of the likes of Mr. Hrithik Roshan or Mr. Salman Khan, they all agree that Mr. Bachchan’s talent is indeed, unique. He didn’t take his audience or his star-status for granted; whether the movies he acted in were of trash-quality or gem-quality, his craft shone through them equally bright.

Mr. Amitabh Bachchan has been entertaining the Indian film audiences – TV audiences too— with his acting prowess and skills with the same zeal and passion that he had in 1969. And it’s 2009 now. He gave us DEEWAR, SHAKTI, DON, etc., then. He has now given us SARKAR, CHEENI KUM, KHAKEE, and BLACK. And his mastery over the medium just blasts through the screen every time his frame appears on-screen.

Agreed that as a person born during the mid-70’s and a cinema-loving child that endlessly imitated Mr. Bachchan’s mannerisms from movies like SHAAN or DON, I am a fanatic follower of the actor. But I have tried to be as objective as possible. Reams of paper cannot do justice to describe this phenomenon called Amitabh Bachchan. And on his 67th birthday, this is just a tiny effort to explain why Mr. Bachchan means what he means to his plethora of fans. I am picking just 4 of his brilliant performances, which I feel were somehow under-rated. Rock on Mr. Bachchan, and just keep on rocking.

SILSILA (1981) –

By 1981, Mr. Bachchan had already patented the emotions of raw fury and anger in his portrayals. Then came along Kabhie Kabhie, and later, Silsila, a movie way, way ahead of its times—a movie that showed the director Mr. Yash Chopra’s mastery over the depiction of romance on the silver-screen (which sadly deteriorated post-Lamhe into all gloss but no soul). Mr. Bachchan displayed another side to his powerhouse talent in his portrayal of the infidel husband. The sensitivity in his depiction of a die-hard romantic/poet/philosopher is really hard to beat. Just watch him flirt unabashedly with Rekha in the song ‘Rang Barse’ or even better, when he decides to leave his wife and has a sit-down with her to explain to her his decision to leave. His expressions convey a multitude of objectives; that of the guilt on deceiving his wife, that of an escapist in trying to give reasons to his wife for the decision; and, that of helplessness. So powerful is his portrayal that in that particular scene, the audience has no choice but to believe him when he says that it is ‘destiny’s’ fault and not his, for the situation involving him, his wife, and his lover. So heart-rending is the way he infuses life into those beautifully written lines, that the audience almost agrees that it is not the man’s fault, but destiny’s that he turns out to be unfaithful!

=Aneesh (An Jo)