Bbuddah.....Hoga Tera Baap!

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70 years, an age wherein, many almost give up the tiresome daily chores that they have been going through over the past numerous years and tend to take life easy, relaxed in the company of books, music and grand kids. The focus is turned to passing on the wisdom and family traditions to the new generation in the form of short stories and anecdotes that are either part of family legacy or have been first hand experiences.

This stereotype, however, stands defied. The daily routine has become busier than ever. National and International travel are part of routine. Passive music listening is replaced by hectic dance steps to recorded numbers on a film set or playback recording at a studio. Blogging, Facebook and Twitter accounts are everyday schedule. This is the role model of the new age 70 year olds.

The name is Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan!

But, hasn’t he defied being cast in stereotypes throughout his long, arduous and close-to-being-fatal career? Yes, he has, and no wonder it has become a habit for him to break the stereotype and challenge himself to identify, set and attain a new goal, every time.

Be it the angry and duty-bound inspector Vijay of ‘Zanjeer’ or the suave ‘Don’, the village simpleton of ‘Adalat’ or the English professor trying to teach botany in ‘Chupke-Chupke’, Master Dinanath of ‘Desh Premee’ or Vijay Dinanath Chauhan of ‘Agneepath’, every character was played with a simplistic ease by him. Every time a new challenge was met with renewed enthusiasm, infused with renewed energy and almost always resulted in a stupendous performance, a blockbuster box-office hit and overflowing cash registers. The name spelled SUCCESS!!

Not that he was King Midas, forever. A time came when the magic touch was lost. The films flopped, the fans started deserting, the producers started looking elsewhere, his production house failed miserably his detractors – in and outside of the industry – started pushing him against the wall – almost everyone started writing the epitaphs of the era and the actor of ‘yester-years’.

Write-off, they did…but he did not. His perseverance changed the then perceived destiny and surprised all those who had started looking at him as a distant blurred spot in their rear view mirrors.

Image Courtesy: AP

He bounced back and how - much bigger, (perhaps) much better, albeit a bit older but challenging the younger ones and leaving them far behind. The ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’ chllanged and changed his ‘Naseeb’ . After years of entertaining the audience on the silver screen he stepped in the living rooms of individual Indian households and conquered the small screen with his rich baritone voice, inimitable style, the superlative persona in a down-to-earth avatar. The participants in the reality show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (KBC) who he interacted with, felt like millionaires just by meeting this larger than life personality who was not just in front of them but was one amongst them.

What followed is not history – it is history in making. KBC set the ball rolling. And this was no ordinary ball. It took no time in becoming a huge snowball annihilaiting any challenge coming in the way – different host for KBC, remakes of his old popular films, new generation and not-so-new generation heroes trying to oust him from the superstar pedestal, et al.

Sample this – 10 Filmfare Best Actor/Supporting Actor Awards nominations, 6 Filmfare & Stardust Awards, 2 National Awards for Best Actor all since the year 2000. Reality show KBC, experimented by getting a different host for one season and quickly – and thankfully – retraced their steps and since then, have seen the TRPs soaring with the latest season generating the maximum TRPs in the Reality Show genre.

Today, October 11, 2012, the Megastar, has turned 70 years of age. And to all those who dream of being or claim to be the Numero Uno in the hindi film industry, let me borrow a popular dialogue…”picture abhi baaki hai mere dost”. And those who feel Mr. Bachchan is old and should retire, the only answer that comes to my mind is…”Buddha Hoga Tera Baap”!!

Image Courtesy:ibnlive.in.com

Happy 70^th Birthday Amitabh Bachchan. We look forward to the next 70!!