Big B’s reinvention and sustained superstardom lie in a seamless transformation from the larger-than-life Angry Young Man of the 1970s and 1980s to an affable, down-to-earth show host
In an X post preceding the launch of Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 16 earlier this month, Amitabh Bachchan put up three pictures that capture the fan frenzy he still enjoys at 81. The photos were from a weekly darshan, where hundreds of fans gather outside his bungalow every Sunday and jostle to get a close look of the Bollywood icon. Big B, as Bachchan is fondly called by fans and the media, emerged from inside his home in a stylish jacket. He smiled, he waved, he greeted them with folded hands. They asked for more.
“This love shall remain a huge debt that I can never repay…” Bachchan captioned the pictures, acknowledging the fan power that drives his image as a Bollywood superstar even after nearly five-and-a-half decades in show business. Bachchan’s sustaining superstardom is a story that testifies intelligent reinvention of brand power. It can broadly be divided into two halves that might seem different but bear an uncanny similarity.
The reinvention of a legend
The first is widely known: He stormed into Bollywood with Zanjeer in 1973 after a brief struggle and broke every textbook rule that defined the ‘hero’ till then. Bachchan’s Angry Young Man changed mainstream cinema everywhere, and particularly Bollywood. Almost always christened Vijay, it was an image of angst and action that took him to heights no actor before or after him scaled and made him the film industry’s undisputed Shahenshah through the 1970s and 1980s, with unforgettable roles in Deewaar, Sholay, Don, Trishul and Kaala Patthar, among many other films.
It is, however, the second phase of Bachchan’s success story that is more intriguing. It began in the year 2000 on television, after he took repeated box office blows through the 1990s as actor and producer, and detractors started to write him off. Bachchan did something no big screen superstar had done till then, or was expected to do: He took on the job of hosting a television quiz show. Almost a quarter century later, the show, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), currently airs its 16th season. The legend of Amitabh Bachchan as its affable host has only grown.
Television has a way of familiarising its stars by taking them right into living rooms, and the effect can be both ways. It either ends an actor/anchor’s career after a signature show ends or, as in Bachchan’s rare case, lets the magic grow if the reinvention strategy is a smart one. No one has harnessed the power of the Indian small screen, and later OTT-driven mobile and laptop screens, as Amitabh Bachchan has done.
A mass messiah, with a difference
His sustained superstardom actually lies in a seamless transformation from the larger-than-life Angry Young Man of yore to a down-to-earth show host who encourages every contestant to score their best and, importantly, builds a humane bond by sharing their stories of joys and strife with the millions who watch.
The idea has allowed a reinvention of KBC itself, essential after the initial curiosity of watching Bachchan on TV, which garnered record ratings in the first season, started to ebb. KBC has, over the years, silently morphed from a show for the academically-inclined (back in its early years, quizzing was mostly deemed a pastime of school kids) to an all-out Hindi entertainment package where, beyond disseminating knowledge that majorly attracts small-town civil service aspirants, there is an emotional core that woos the average Indian couch potato. It was best highlighted in the season eight slogan: “Yahaan sirf paise nahi, dil bhi jeete jaate hain (Here, not just money, hearts are won too).”
For Bachchan, the formula has enabled a permanent connect with the masses in the second phase of his career and, interestingly, let him be a mass messiah of sorts in the new millennium just as he used to be during his glorious Angry Young Man stint in Bollywood. With a difference, of course.
Delivering knowledge, with a philanthropic edge
His rise in the 1970s was driven by his ability to become a voice of popular angst on screen, an idea best analysed by filmmaker Shyam Benegal in the Prime Video docu-series Angry Young Men. The show is about the writer duo of Salim-Javed, who created the Vijay prototype for Bachchan. Understanding the on-screen phenomenon, Benegal says: “1970s… this was a period when you needed to create heroes who would get things done for you... somebody who would clean up the system.”
That is what Bachchan essentially did in the fictional world of the Angry Young Man, as the furious cop Vijay Khanna in Zanjeer (1973), the cynical dockyard coolie-turned-smuggler Vijay Verma in Deewaar (1975) or the vengeful illegitimate son Vijay Kumar in Trishul (1978). As the KBC host, he is delivering knowledge and, more significantly, doing his bit to “get things done for you” with a philanthropic edge.
The second bit is notable as he talks of his stint as brand ambassador of social campaigns. In a recent episode, for instance, he mentions how, to popularise pulse polio drops in villages, he had to unleash a bit of the vintage Angry Young Man fury. “I yelled at the viewers and scolded them to take Polio drops. Women from the village saw the ad where I was angry and got scared of it and began to take Polio drops!” he recalls.
He champions his contestants, too, which is obvious in a recent X post: “The lives and stories of some of the contestants on KBC — filled with extreme emotion! But their courage and determination are so inspiring.”
Stealing the show
This aspect was obvious in a new episode when Bachchan announced he would bear brain tumour surgery expenses of a contestant, Nareshi Meena. “Nareshi Ji, I will try my best to take up the expenses of the proton therapy you need to do for your treatment. Mujhe aapka sahaayak banna hai (I want to assist you), and whatever amount you win from the show will be yours. Be rest assured about your treatment,” he declared.
Bachchan’s current image is understandably far mellower than in the heydays. It has been reorganised to suit his advancing age and, importantly, to accommodate the tastes of a generation for whom the larger-than-life big screen is not necessarily the only place to hunt for icons. For Amitabh Bachchan it exists on KBC, just as it also exists in his avatar as the do-gooder grand old man of Indian advertising who endorses around 20 products from mango beverage and chocolate to jewellery and life insurance.
There’s always the big screen, too, and a regular flow of film releases. But despite character roles in films such as Kalki 2898, Ganapath or Brahmastra that are shouldered by a younger crop of stars, it is the quiz show that reaches your living room or your mobile screen which continues to boost the legend of Amitabh Bachchan.
