Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan (IPA: [mtab bttn]; 11 October 1942) is an Indian film actor.

He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since [1][2] appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades. Bachchan is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian [3][4][5][6] cinema. So total was his dominance of the movie scene in the 1970s and 1980s that the [7] French director Francois Truffaut called him a "one-man industry. He occupied the top slot of Box [8] Office India's Top Actors list for a record (shared with Dilip Kumar) sixteen consecutive years. Bachchan has won numerous major awards in his career, including three National Film Awards as Best Actor he shares with Mammootty and Kamal Hassan, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies and fourteen Filmfare Awards. He is the mostnominated performer in any major acting category at Filmfare, with 37 nominations overall. In addition to acting, Bachchan has worked as a playback singer, film producerand television presenter. He also had a stint in politics in the 1980s. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1984 and thePadma Bhushan in 2001 for his contributions towards the arts.
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1 Early and personal life 2 Career

o o o o o o o o o

2.1 Early work: 19691972 2.2 Rise to stardom: 19731983 2.3 1982 injury while filming Coolie 2.4 Politics: 198487 2.5 Slump and retirement: 19881992 2.6 Producer and acting comeback 199699 2.7 Return to prominence: 2000present 2.8 Television career 2.9 Voice

3 Awards, honours and recognitions 4 Filmography 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links

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 themed films that had generally preceded it [2] and established Amitabh in a new personathe "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema. Filmfare [15] considers this one of the iconic performances of Bollywood history. The film was a huge success and one of the highest grossing films of that year, breaking Bachchan's dry spell at the box office and [16] making him a star. From then onwards, Bachchan became one of the most successful leading men of the film industry. He earned his first Filmfare nomination for Best Actor for Zanjeer. The year 1973

was also when he married Jaya, and around this time they appeared in several films together; not 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. Later, 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 scripted by Biresh Chatterjee addressing themes of friendship. His supporting role won him his second Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. In 1974, Bachchan made several guest appearances in films such as Kunwara Baap and Dost, before playing a supporting role in Roti Kapda Aur Makaan. The film, directed and written by Manoj Kumar, addressed themes of honesty in the face of oppression and financial and emotional hardship and was the top earning film of 1974. Bachchan then played the leading role in film Majboor, released on 6 December 1974, which was a remake of the Hollywood film Zig Zag. The film was a success at the [17] box office. Two of his other releases that year viz. Kasauti and Benaam also made money making his success at the box office consistent. 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 was the year when he appeared in two films which are regarded as important in Hindi cinematic history. He starred in the Yash Chopra directed film Deewaar, opposite Shashi Kapoor, Nirupa Roy, and Neetu Singh, which earned him a Filmfare Nomination for Best Actor. The film became a major hit at the box office [18] in 1975, ranking in at number 4. Indiatimes Movies ranks Deewaaramongst the Top 25 Must See [19] Bollywood Films. Released on 15 August 1975 was Sholay, which became the highest grossing film of 1975 and also of all time in India, earning INR2,36,45,00,000 equivalent to US$ 60 million, after [20] adjusting for inflation. Bachchan 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 [19] See Bollywood Films. In that same year, the judges of the 50th annual Filmfare Awards awarded it with the special distinction award called Filmfare Best Film of 50 Years. Bachchan starred in comedies such as Chupke Chupke (1975) and Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) and in films such as Kabhie Kabhie (1976). In 1976, he was once again cast by director Yash Chopra in his second film, Kabhi Kabhie, a romantic tale in which Bachchan starred as a young poet named Amit Malhotra who falls deeply in love with a beautiful young girl named Pooja played by actress Raakhee. The film was notable for portraying Bachchan as a romantic hero, 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 again nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award for his role in the film. In 1977, he won his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance inAmar Akbar Anthony where he played the third lead opposite Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor as Anthony Gonsalves. The film was the highest grossing film of that year. His other successes that year [21] include Parvarish, Khoon Pasina and Adalat. He once again resumed double roles in films such as Kasme Vaade as Amit and Shankar and Don playing the characters of Don, a leader of an underworld gang and his look alike Vijay. His performance won him his second Filmfare Best Actor Award. He also gave towering performances in Trishul and Muqaddar Ka Sikandar both of which earned him further Filmfare Best Actor nominations. In 1979, Bachchan starred in Suhaag which was the highest earning film of that year. In the same year he also enjoyed critical acclaim and commercial success with films like Mr. Natwarlal andKaala Patthar. Amitabh was required to use his singing voice for the first time in a song from the film Mr. Natwarlal in which he starred alongside Rekha. His performance in the film saw him nominated for both the Filmfare Best Actor Award and the Filmfare Best Male Playback Awards. In 1979, he also received Best Actor nomination for Kaala Patthar (1979) and then went on to be nominated again in 1980 for the Raj Khosla directed film Dostana, in which he starred opposite Shatrughan [22] Sinha and Zeenat Aman. Dostana proved to be the top grossing film of 1980. In 1981, he starred in

Yash Chopra'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 against actor Dilip Kumar were [23] not successful at the box office but Ram Balram and Lawaris were successful

1982 injury while filming Coolie

On 26 July 1982, while filming Coolie in the University Campus in Bangalore, Bachchan suffered a [24] near fatal intestinal injury during the filming of a fight scene with co-actor Puneet Issar. Bachchan was performing his own stunts in the film and one scene required him to fall onto a table and then on the ground. However 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 blood. He required an emergency splenectomy and remained critically ill in hospital for many months, at times close to death. The public response included prayers in temples and offers to sacrifice limbs to save him, while later, there were long queues of well-wishing fans outside the hospital where he was [25] recuperating. Nevertheless, he spent many months recovering and resumed filming later that year after a long period of recuperation. The film was released in 1983, and partly due to the huge publicity of [26] Bachchan's accident, the film was a box office success and the top grossing film that year. The director, Manmohan Desai, altered the ending of Coolie after Bachchan's accident. Bachchan's character was originally intended to have been killed off but after the change of script, the character lived in the end. It would have been inappropriate, 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 scene is frozen at the critical moment, and a caption appears onscreen marking this as the instant of the [27] actor's injury and the ensuing publicity of the accident. Later, he was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis. His illness made him feel weak both mentally and physically and he decided to quit films and venture into politics. At this time he became pessimistic, expressing concern with how a new film would be received and stated before every release, "Yeh film [28] to flop hogi!" ("This film will flop").

Politics: 198487
In 1984, Bachchan took a break from acting and briefly entered politics in support of long-time family friend, Rajiv Gandhi. He contested Allahabad's seat of 8th Lok Sabha against H. N. Bahuguna, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and won by one of the highest victory margins in general [29] election history (68.2% of the vote). His political career, however, was short-lived: he resigned after three years, calling politics a cesspool. The resignation followed the implication of Bachchan and his brother in the "Bofors scandal" by a newspaper, which he vowed to take to court. Bachchan was [30] eventually found not guilty of involvement in the ordeal. His old friend, Amar Singh, helped him during a financial crisis due to the failure of his company ABCL. Therefore Bachchan started to support Amar Singh's political party, the Samajwadi party. Jaya [31] Bachchan joined the Samajwadi Party and became a Rajya Sabha member. Bachchan has continued to do favors for the Samajwadi party, including advertisements and political campaigns. These activities have recently gotten him into trouble again in the Indian courts for false claims after a [32] previous incident of submission of legal papers by him, stating that he is a farmer. 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 own defense, Bachchan claimed to have banned the press [33] from entering his sets until late 1989.