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Amitabh: The Making of a
Superstar
His films were so popular that they engulfed everyone. His popularity made that period the Amitabh era. In the book, Susmita has written all aspects of his life. She finds a great difference between Amitabh’s films at the height of his popularity and films made now. His early films flopped, but ‘Zanjeer’ was a turning point in his career. After that, he never looked back. He changed the image of a goody-goody hero who never did anything wrong to a cynical, aggressive, irritable and violent hero who wants more to fight than love and does not wish to compromise. The hero of ‘Zanjeer’ does the right things, but in a different way. He takes law in his own hands in order to set things right. He gave a new face to the image of a hero. A new term was coined for this new hero, ‘anti-hero’. His anti-hero image continued to bring audiences to theatres, but beneath his anger, cynicism and rebellion, there was tragedy woven somewhere. ‘Sholay’, another landmark in his career, pulls him down to the level of a human being from his god-like image. Further, ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ also creates his more human image. Though he is orphaned, he is not a loner. He is a happy soul. He worked with directors like Hrishikesh Mukerji, Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra, Ramesh Sippy and Yash Chopra. They presented him in different ways, but his cynicism remained at the helm. He matured and grew with these movies. With his diverse roles, he left a deep impact on the audience and theatres started filling up. He became an enigma, an industry in himself. His movies ‘Anand’, ‘Namak Haram’, ‘Abhiman’, ‘Kabhi Kabhie’, ‘Sholay’, ‘Sharaabi’, ‘Silsila’, ‘Hum’, ‘Agneepath’, ‘Mr Natwarlal’, ‘Lawaris’, ‘Don’, ‘Deewar’, ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ and ‘Mukaddar Ka Sikandar’ made him emerge as an unparalleled entertainer. He had the ability to connect with the masses and classes alike. During the late 1980s, his image started lowering and the audience’s acceptance thinned. ‘KBC’ on Star Plus catapulted him back to fame. His films ‘Baghban’, ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’, ‘Veer Zaara’, ‘Sarkar’, ‘Waqt’ and ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ made his popularity with the masses soar. The book makes an interesting study of Amitabh, the enigma. His progress, his growth, his popularity, his downfall and his re-emergence are well chronicled. Susmita answers all questions buried in the blaze and glory in an analysis with insight. This is a beautiful journey from a flop hero to a national icon.
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THE book traces the
journey of Amitabh Bachchan in the film industry, where he rose from a
flop hero to a superstar and an icon of the nation. The writer did her
Ph.D and the subject of her thesis was ‘Sociology of Hindi Commercial
Cinema—A study of Amitabh Bachchan’. An in-depth study of Amitabh,
the aura he exuded and his commercial success is at the core of this
book. Amitabh, according to her, is one of the three major developments
in Hindi cinema—coming of sound, advent of colour, and emergence of
Amitabh Bachchan.