Since everybody has a Big B story

Superstar Amitabh Bachchanrsquos contemporaries alone comprise nearly half of Hindi cinemarsquos history So itrsquos only fair that everyone vintage apart has a Bachchan Big B story to tellFor instance supervillain Prem Chopra 87 told me from his relative youthmdashworking with Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor in Yash Choprarsquos Trishul 1978mdashwhen theyrsquod have early morning shoots but could party all night regardless Little before calltime when they shouldrsquove attempted a powernap Chopra recalls Bachchan would bring over his sitar and regale them with his impromptu performance We know Bachchan as a legit playback singer starting with Mr Natwarlal 1979He also composes music we learnt because thatrsquos what he did for director R Balki to express his thoughts after watching his film Chup 2022 That Big B composition on piano plays in Chuprsquos endcreditsHow did Bachchan become a professional actor Well comedianfilmmaker Mehmood and his brother Anwar Ali were his early mentors yes Mehmoodrsquos Bombay to Goa 1972 showed off Big Brsquos skills as an entertainer Ali brothers regularly recommended him for rolesFor the story before that I discovered a bookmdashLegends of Bollywood by one Raaj Grover Grover was a close confidante of Sunil Dutt who had sent him over to meet Bachchan in Calcutta where he worked as a freight executive in Bird amp Co All this happened because Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had called up Nargis Dutt They were friends So were Mrs Gandhi and Bachchanrsquos mother TejiAccording to Grover entrusted with chaperoning Bachchan for five daysmdashfor which hersquod come down to Bombay on leave from work in Calcutta Big B screentested for B R Chopra at producer Mohan Segalrsquos set Nothing came of it Bachchan had earlier entered the FilmfareMadhuri talent hunt No luck there eitherDutt of course did give Bachchan a part in his ensemble film Reshma Aur Shera 1971mdashwhere Big B later loved for a lsquorich baritonersquo played a mute characterTo be fair the first time Big Brsquos name appeared on a film credit was for his voiceover in Mrinal Senrsquos Bhuvan Shome 1969 The credited name was lsquoAmitrsquomdashAmitabh was seen as too longDuring Rehma Aur Sherarsquos shoot Big B and actor Ranjeet who became a stock villain in the rsquo70s were roommates He recalls his first memory of Bachchan as a quiet young man who never skipped his prayers and letters to his parentsHow did he land his first role though in K A Abbasrsquos Saat Hindustani 1969Then aspiring actordirector Tinnu Anand says he was supposed to play that part Since Tinnu had dropped out of catering college his father legendary writer Inder Raj Anand suggested the son assist Fellini or Satyajit Ray instead Inder knew both As per Tinnu Fellinirsquos crew wouldnrsquot be familiar with English so he sought an appointment and began working with Ray Hence Bachchan got his acting debutSalimJavedrsquos script Zanjeer 1973 brought him irreplaceable stardom Thereafter there could be weeks with eight Big B releases simultaneously playing in theatresThe superstar right before Bachchan was Rajesh Khannamdashnotorious for arriving late on set causing heartburn and holes in producersrsquo pocketsBig Brsquos professionalism in contrast got defined by his punctuality first Ranjeet says this is also because workaholic Bachchan sleeps very few hours One canrsquot deny his undiminished hungerambition seldom resting on his past featTake an instance actor Naseeruddin Shah cited to me about a script with three male leads During the writing process as each lead got stronger better defined one superstar decided to pull off all threeWhile Naseer never mentioned Bachchan Irsquom pretty sure the film is Mahaan 1983As a journalist of course I have too many Big B stories From drawing out a headlinemdashlsquoFeels like my mother is no morersquomdashwith a leading question when his onscreen mom Nirupa Roy passed away to having him urge Iraqi militia to release Indian truckers held captive off Baghdadmdashthose terrorists were selfconfessed Big B fans Hersquos a sportThere are signed letters of appreciation framed or lying in the drawers of countless film talents in Bombay when their work has been noticed by Big B He just does it naturally including never failing to wish colleagues even their children on their birthdaysMy second favourite Big B anecdote best is saved for future relates to a lsquoletter to editorrsquo in midday about a fracas at 2003 Zee film awards in Dubai A gentleman from Borivli accused Big B of being a ldquomedia creationrdquo who mustnrsquot deem ldquoordinary peoplerdquo as lesser beingsmdashjust because he was asked to be seated in the seventh row at the award showBig B emailed a 1000word piece asking me to pass it on to the Borivli resident He countered the first point saying his greatest years as a superstar mid rsquo70s onwards were when the media had banned himmdashso much for being its creation And that he felt everyone was extraordinary or ordinary for that matterThis is before Big B began blogging Floored by the quality of the piece I asked ldquoWould you pen a regular column You write so wellrdquo He replied ldquoNot as well as yourdquo My jaw dropped and has been on the floor since This is how you win the world with grace and charmMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper