Here's why we feel Amitabh Bachchan's second innings should make every actor in Bollywood damn JEALOUS!

There is a reason everyone calls Amitabh Bachchan a legend. With 216 acting credits under his belt (as per his IMDB page), plus those films where he lent his deep baritone, three national awards for Best Actor and countless other awards, he is surely one of the best actors we have in our country.

By Sreeju Sudhakaran
| Updated: September 17, 2016 12:47 PM IST

There is a reason everyone calls Amitabh Bachchan a legend. With 216 acting credits under his belt (as per his IMDB page), plus those films where he lent his deep baritone, three national awards for Best Actor and countless other awards, he is surely one of the best actors we have in our country - an actor generations ahead will also remember. Also Read - When Jaya Bachchan praised bahu Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on her parenting skill but wanted THIS to change

And he could be one of the those rare actors who has a magnificent career as a hero even when his age now in the '70s bracket. That's AMitabh Bachchan for you - he is more active of social networking sites than even the younger stars, something we are still trying to decode how he can manage despite his busy schedule. He is a prime example of the fact that age is just a mere number, if you have the will to learn new things and be young at heart. Also Read - Aishwarya Rai Bachchan holds net worth of Rs. 776 crores; here's what contributes to it

However, this is no open letter to Mr Bachchan Sr where I am going to praise him a lot; many have done that job better than me before, and will do so ahead. Here, I will be talking about how the current phase of Amitabh Bachchan's acting career, his second innings, is actually his best and perhaps his golden age as well. Also Read - Amitabh Bachchan pens sweet birthday wish for wife Jaya Bachchan; reveals how family celebrated the special day

Before I get to my views as to why I feel Amitabh Bachchan's current career status is his most fulfilling phase as an actor, let's talk about his career as a whole.

When we talk about Amitabh Bachchan's career, we have to talk about it in two phases, or rather in a sporting terms, let's say two innings. The first innings was the era where Amitabh Bachchan entered the success-hungry industry with Saat Hindustani, move to playing main lead from supporting roles and gave India its most famous Angry Young Man.

First Innings - The Angry Young Man phase

As everyone knows by now if your are a true ardent fan of Amitabh Bachchan fan, that the man was an All India Radio reject because they found his voice 'too deep'. The eldest son of poet late Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan made his debut as one of the leads in the forgotten, Saat Hindustani, which co-starred Utpal Dutt and Malayalam actor Madhu. The film was based on the Goa liberation movement.

He later played supporting roles in films like Parwana, Reshma Aur Shera, Bombay To Goa, while also winning his first Filmfare Award for the Best Supporting actor in the famous Anand.

A still from Anand

Zanjeer was of course, the game changer for him, and gave him the tag of the Angry Young Man - a sobriquet many tried to utilise while others tried to exploit. Interestingly, Amitabh Bachchan was never the first choice in the film; Dev Anand was. Imagine what would have happened if Zanjeer was made with Devsaab in the lead? Would we have had Amitabh Bachchan the superstar then?

A still from Zanjeer

But like I said, Zanjeer paved way for many more such roles for Amitabh Bachchan, where he played the charismatic main lead with his famous poker face performance in many films like Amar Akbar Anthony, Coolie, Deewar, and of course Sholay.

A still from Sholay

It's not that Bachchansaab always stuck playing the angry young man - he also played romantic leads in films like Kabhie Kabhie, Silsila, Kasme Vaade, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, as well as being a part of our many fave Hrishikesh Mukherjee's films like Chupke Chupke, Mili, Namak Haram and others. And he also played a character with grey shades in Sudhendu Roy's Saudagar, opposite Nutan.

A still from Saudagar

However as the decade moved into '80s, Amitabh Bachchan was more or less playing Angry Young Man in nearly every other film like Shahenshah, Toofan, Mahaan, Naseeb and others. He also dabbled into politics which was a very negative move for the actor, also souring his relations with the Gandhi family, who were once his friends. He won his first National Award for Agneepath - a performance that, as per me, should have never deserved one (that year should have belonged to the late thilakan whose performance in Malayalam flick Peruntachchan was perfect in all sense). Amitabh's performance in Agneepath was his hammiest, complete with a fake accent, and it looked like they had awarded him so because, suddenly they realise Big B never won any National Award before.

Big B in Agneepath

It's not that I have any issues with Amitabh Bachchan's first innings - after all, with this phase, no one would have bothered about a 70s actor giving one brilliant performance after another at this age (just check out how many people talk about Om Puri's career...sadly, Bollywood always love to play cruel favourites). The first innings helps in building up Amitabh Bachchan's image as a superstar, but never as one of the finest actor that we know him now...

...and that only happened because of his...

Second Innings - The Actor par Excellence phase

After a disastrous turn of events of being a businessman and setting up a production company, Big B finally came out of his semi-retirement to start acting in films and save himself and his family from bankruptcy. Though there was a lot of noise made about his comeback film, Mrityudaata, the film was a huge bomb because people were not accepting him pretending to be younger man. Even his subsequent films Lal Baadshah, Kohram, Major Saab flopped big time.

With Daler Mehndi in Mrityudaata

However, like Zanjeer, the biggest game-changer in his second innings was Amitabh Bachchan's sensible decision of playing his age, and of course hosting the game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati. As for the films, the career-changing role came in Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein where he played a strict principal often at loggerheads with Shah Rukh Khan's liberal music teacher. Mohabbatein finally made Amitabh Bachchan realise that people will still love and accept him even if he plays his age, and not just be the main lead.

In Mohabbatein

This realisation took off a lot of pressure from Big B, and he could now do something he couldn't do in his first innings - experiment. And experiment much. He could play any kind of roles here, and people would not start putting blame on him much even if the film fails, because he is trying different things. So he played a cop in Khakee, a schizophreniac villain in Aankhen, A dying father in Waqt, a still in love sexagerian in Baghban, a playboy in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, a progeria suffering kid in Paa and surprisingly many of them worked. People were now beginning to realise that Amitabh has a lot more to offer than angry stares, poker face and immortal dialogues.

With Akshay, Arjun Rampal and Paresh Rawal in Aankehin

Even in the films that didn't work, he was still appreciated. Yeah, we still had to bear the likes of Boom and Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag, but still you do get bad results sometimes when you experiment. For people who still loved him in the angry image, there were Sarkar and its sequel, Rann and others.

Not only with roles, Amitabh also got to experiment with genres as well, be it action (Bbuddah Hoga Teraa Baap), thrillers (Aankhen), drama (Baabul), comedy (Bunty Aur Babli), romcoms (Cheeni Kum), war dramas (Lakshya), mythological (Agnivarsha), folklore (Paheli), fantasy (Aladdin) and even supernatural (Hum Kaun Hai), something he couldn't do much in his first innings. he evn acted in Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam and even Hollywood films.

In The Great Gatsby

However the biggest evidence that his second innings worked for him as an actor is that he won three National Awards as the Best Actor here, purely for his performances. Unlike the consolation prize he got in his first innings...

So he won his first for Black...

...and then in Paa

and then again last year, for Piku...

Now Amitabh Bachchan is rocking as a lawyer in PINK, a legal thriller that highlights the perils faced by women in our society and how we judge them based on their lifestyles and clothes. Then there is Thugs of Hindostan, where he is acting with Aamir Khan for the first time, and what can be expected to be a big budget thriller. So even in future, we can expect something exciting from him in future as well. It's really interesting and exciting that even at his age and in an era which is ruled by the younger crop of stars like the Khans, people are still writing author backed roles for him, and he is still as much in demand as a Salman Khan or Aamir. And his post resurgence in career is not something every actor in Bollywood can enjoy, even if you are a Shah Rukh Khan. Because Amitabh Bachchan still has that pan-India appeal, something the younger lot are still striving for.

In PINK

So do you agree with us that Amitabh Bachchan's second innings is in fact his best phase of his career?

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BySreeju Sudhakaran
Updated: September 17, 2016 12:47 PM IST