Blowing away his age, he turned 80 today He is the ‘Big B’, the ‘Shahenshah’ of Bollywood. The ‘Angry Young Man’ of the seventies. The whole world is fascinated by his full voice and acting magic. On the beautiful day of the birthday, you are floating in the love and respect of crores of fans spread across the world. Especially on social media, his followers are wishing Big B on his birthday by dedicating various pictures and statuses.
As part of the special day celebrations, each ticket for Amitabh’s latest film ‘Goodbye’ has been priced at just Rs 80 in Mumbai today. This film can be seen on the big screen for only 80 rupees. Producer Amitabh’s love interest Ekta Kapoor, who was seen crying on the day of the film’s trailer release, has taken the novel step of selling tickets for Rs 80 as a gift for her 80th birthday. This star girl grew up in front of Amitabh’s eyes.
Amitabh Bachchan has played the lead role in the movie ‘Goodbye’ directed by Vikas Behel. This facility is also available on single screen in India. On the day of its release on October 7, its tickets were sold at Rs 150 in cinema halls across India.
The story of the movie ‘Goodbye’ revolves around an old man from a middle-class family, whose wife dies suddenly. Then the story moves forward with how he bridged the distance with his children. It talks about self-discovery, the importance of family and celebrating life in any situation. The film also stars Rashmika Mandana, Neena Gupta, Sunil Grover, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ili Avram, Pavel Gulati, Sahil Mehta and Shibin Narang.
Rashmika Mandana made her debut in Bollywood with the movie ‘Goodbye’. He was seen in Tara character. He still can’t believe that he can act with Amitabh Bachchan! On the day of the film’s trailer release event held in Juhu, Mumbai, he said, ‘Working with Amitabh sir, talking to him, being able to share the same stage, talking about the same subject, getting a chance to shoot with him – everything is like a dream. I am grateful to work with sir. It is an absolute honor and an experience that will be forever special to me.”
Not just ‘goodbye’, Amitabh has more birthday surprises. A four-day film festival titled ‘Bachchan Back to the Beginning’ has been organized to celebrate Amitabh’s memorable work on his birthday. It has been organized by non-profit organization Film Heritage Foundation since October 8 in 22 branches of PVR Cinemas in 17 cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Indore, Surat, Baroda, Raipur, Kolahpur, Prayagraj, India. Through this, the new generation is getting a golden opportunity to watch his timeless movies on the big screen.
On October 8, 9 and 10, tickets were sold at Rs 150. But today, birthday festival tickets will be available at 80 rupees. Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Don’, ‘Kala Pathar’, ‘Kalia’, ‘Kaavi Kaavi’, ‘Amar Akbar Antony’, ‘Deewar’, ‘Abhiman’, ‘Chupke Chupke’, ‘Namak Halal’, ‘Satte Pe Satta’ and ‘Mili’. Talking about the festival, Amitabh Bachchan said, ‘I never thought that a day would come when these films from the beginning of my career would come back on the big screen. This is a great initiative. Because, through this, the work of my directors, co-artists and technicians of that time is also seen, without whom these films would not have happened. It brings back an era, which was lost, but people have not forgotten.’
Ajay Bijli, chairman and managing director of the organizing company PVR Limited, mentioned that this is the first such festival in India. According to him, there is a great opportunity to see the memorable characters of Bachchan on the big screen, not on the phone or laptop. Film Heritage Foundation founder Shivendra Singh Dungarpur said, ‘Collecting the best films of Amitabh Bachchan’s early career was a huge task. These movies made him a superstar. The way the audience saw them at the time of release, i.e. showing them again on the big screen, I would say it is a big event.
On the occasion of the festival, an exhibition of rare photos, footage and posters of Amitabh from the seventies and eighties was organized at PVR Juhu, Mumbai, as if the golden days were back. It shows the jacket worn by him in the movie ‘Shahenshah’. The memorabilia also includes rare LP record jackets, lobby cards and stills from the shooting. They are not available on the internet. A cutout of Amitabh wearing the shirt in the movie ‘Deewar’ is kept in the gallery.
Amitabh Bachchan was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. His father Harivansh Rai Bachchan was a renowned Hindi poet. His mother Teji Bachchan is a Sikh-Punjabi from Faisalabad (now in Pakistan). Bachchan’s first name was Inkilab, inspired by the unforgettable words of India’s freedom struggle, ‘Inkilab Zindabad’. Later his name was changed to Amitabh. Bachchan married actress Jaya Bhaduri. They have two children Shweta Nanda and Abhishek Bachchan.