Page 8 - Seniorstoday September 21

Cover Story

A Legendary

List

Distil Amitabh Bachchan’s expansive oeuvre into a Top 20?
Deepa Gahlot gives it a shot

As Amitabh Bachchan enters his 80th year, written by Salim-Javed, he was named
he is still going strong – the only actor of Vijay – and most of the second lot from his
his age who has lead roles written for him. post-sabbatical return to character roles,
Starting his career in 1969 with KA but still as the lead.
Abbas’s Saat Hindustani, he proved
himself to be a fine actor; still it took a 1 Bombay To Goa (1972):
while for him to reach that milestone film
Zanjeer (1973), from where his journey
as a superstar took off. When he was on a
roll, even his bad films were hits, but the
top directors of the time also found that
he was an intelligent, malleable and very
disciplined actor, who came to be known
for his punctuality and professionalism.
Plus that crisp dialogue delivery in a
baritone voice and his widely imitated
hairstyle.
It is difficult to pick just 20 films from When he was stuck with serious, intense
his oeuvre of over 200 – 10 of the big hits, roles, producer NC Sippy and director S
and 10 offbeat films. Not surprisingly, the Ramanthan cast him in a light-hearted
first lot are from his early years – in many romantic comedy-cum-road movie, in

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