Biography of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, Film Actor (2 of 2):
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan (IPA: [əmɪˈtaːbʱ ˈbəttʃən]; born 11 October 1942) is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s for movies like Deewar andZanjeer, and was dubbed India's first "angry young man" for his on-screen roles inBollywood. He has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades.[3][4] Bachchan is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema.[5][6][7] So total was his dominance of the movie scene in the 1970s and 1980s that the French director François Truffaut called him a "one-man industry."[8][9]
Bachchan has won many major awards in his career, including three National Film Awardsas Best Actor, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies and fourteen Filmfare Awards. He is the most-nominated performer in any major acting category at Filmfare, with 39 nominations overall. In addition to acting, Bachchan has worked as a playback singer, film producer and television presenter. He also had a stint in politics in the 1980s.
The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1984, the Padma Bhushanin 2001 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015 for his contributions to the arts.[10] TheGovernment of France honoured him with its highest civilian honour, Knight of the Legion of Honour, in 2007 for his exceptional career in the world of cinema and beyond.[11]
Bachchan made his Hollywood debut in 2013 with The Great Gatsby, in which he played a non-Indian Jewish character, Meyer Wolfsheim.
Early and personal life
Career
Humanitarian causes
Amitabh Bachchan has been involved in many social works. Amitabh donated₹11 lakh (US$17,000) to clear the debts of nearly 40 beleaguered farmers in Andhra Pradesh.[69] He also donated ₹30 lakh(US$45,000) to clear the debts of some 100 Vidarbha farmers.[70] In 2010, he donated₹11 lakh (US$17,000) for Resul Pookutty's foundation, for medical centre at Kochi.[71][72][73] Amitabh Bachchan donateed₹2.5 lakh (US$3,800) to Delhi Police constable Subhash Chand Tomar's family, who died after succumbing to injuries during anti-gangrape protest for 2012 Delhi gang rape.[74][75] He opened a Harivansh Rai Bachchan Memorial Trust, or HRB Memorial Trust in his father's name in 2013.[76] Amitabh Bachchan was made UNICEF goodwill ambassador for polio Eradication Campaign in India in 2002, when 1,556 polio cases were detected that year .[77][78][79] On 27 March 2014, World Health Organization (WHO) declared India a polio free country with no case of disease being reported in the previous three years.[80][81][82] In 2013, Amitabh and his family donated ₹25 lakh(US$38,000) to charitable trust Plan India, that works for the upliftment of the girl child in India.[83][84][85] Amitabh Bachchan donated₹11 lakh (US$17,000) to Maharashtra Police Welfare Fund in 2013.[86] Amitabh was the face of 'Save Our Tigers' campaign that promoted the importance of tiger conservation in India.[87]
Amitabh also supported PETA India's campaign to free, Sunder, a 14-year-old elephant who was chained and tortured in a temple in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.[88][89] After the elephant was freed and rehabilitated inBannerghatta National Park in Bangalore, he was reported to tweet, “@PetaIndia has turned elephant Sunder’s home into free-roaming, forested sanctuary... feeling good I contributed to this cause !”[90]
In 2014, it was announced that he had recorded his voice and lent his image to the Hindi and English language versions of theTeachAIDS software, an internationalHIV/AIDS prevention education tool developed at Stanford University.[91]
Business investments
Amitabh Bachchan has invested in many upcoming business ventures. In 2013, he bought a 10% stake in Just Dial from which he made a gain of 4600 percent. He holds a 3.4% equity in Stampede Capital, a financial technology firm specializing in cloud computing for financial markets. The Bachchan family also bought shares worth $252,000 in Meridian Tech, a consulting company in U.S. Recently they made their first overseas investment in Ziddu.com, a cloud based content distribution platform.[92]
Awards, honours and recognitions
Apart from National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards and other competitive awards which Bachchan won for his performances throughout the years, he has been awarded several honours for his achievements in the Indian film industry. In 1991, he became the first artist to receive the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, which was established in the name of Raj Kapoor. Bachchan was crowned as Superstar of the Millennium in 2000 at the Filmfare Awards. TheGovernment of India awarded him with thePadma Shri in 1984, the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015. France's highest civilian honour, the Knight of the Legion of Honour, was conferred upon him by the French Government in 2007 for his "exceptional career in the world of cinema and beyond".[93] In 2011, actor Dilip Kumarblogged that Black should have been nominated for an Oscar. Kumar added: "If any Indian actor, in my personal opinion, deserves the world's most coveted award, it is you."[94]
In 1999, Bachchan was voted the "greatest star of stage or screen" in a BBC Your Millennium online poll. The organisation noted that "Many people in the western world will not have heard of [him] ... [but it] is a reflection of the huge popularity of Indian films."[95] In 2001, he was honoured with the Actor of the Century award at the Alexandria International Film Festival in Egypt in recognition of his contribution to the world of cinema.[96] Many other honours for his achievements were conferred upon him at several International Film Festivals, including the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010Asian Film Awards.[97]
In June 2000, he became the first living Asian to have been modeled in wax at London'sMadame Tussauds Wax Museum.[98] Another statue was installed in New York in 2009,[99]Hong Kong in 2011,[100] Bangkok in 2011[101]and Washington, DC in 2012.[102]
He was honoured with an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Jhansi, India, in 2004,[104]the University of Delhi in 2006,[105] the De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, in 2006,[106] the Leeds Metropolitan University in Yorkshire, UK, in 2007,[107] the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, in 2011[108] the Jodhpur National University in 2013.[109][110] and the Academy of Arts (Egypt) in Cairo, Egypt, in 2015.[111][112]
On 27 July 2012, Bachchan carried theOlympic torch during the last leg of its relay in London's Southwark.[113]
Severals books have been written about Bachchan. Amitabh Bachchan: the Legend was published in 1999,[114] To be or not to be: Amitabh Bachchan in 2004,[115] AB: The Legend (A Photographer's Tribute) in 2006,[116] Amitabh Bachchan: Ek Jeevit Kimvadanti in 2006,[117]Amitabh: The Making of a Superstar in 2006,[118] Looking for the Big B: Bollywood, Bachchan and Me in 2007[119] andBachchanalia in 2009.[120]
Bachchan himself wrote a book in 2002: Soul Curry for you and me – An Empowering Philosophy That Can Enrich Your Life.[121] In the early 80s, Bachchan authorised the use of his likeness for the comic book characterSupremo in a series titled The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan.[122] In May 2014, La Trobe University in Australia named a Scholarship after Bachchan.[123]
Selected filmography
Main article: Amitabh Bachchan filmography
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