STORY: Fans across India organised cultural and musical shows as they celebrated 70th birthday of superstar Amitabh Bachchan ‘Big B’ with great pomp and show.
The members of the fan club in Kolkata city of India’s eastern state of West Bengal participated in the grand celebrations on Thursday (October 11) by cutting cake and singing birthday songs.
Amid enthusiasm, a member of All Bengal Amitabh Bachchan Fans’ Association, Debajit Gupta said that Big B’s birthday celebrations would go on.
“Today is Amit ji’s 70th birthday, so, we have already cut the cake and later we will perform religious rituals and will chant ‘Forty chaupais on Hanuman’ (Hanuman Chalisa) and arranging food for the orphans. The whole day the celebrations will go on just like that with music, cake and balloons, we will celebrate,” said Gupta.
The Assistant Secretary of All Bengal Amitabh Bachchan Fans’ Association, Vijay Patodia prayed for his long life and said that his birthday would also be celebrated by the generations to come.
“We always pray for his long life. We want to say that he is ageless, timeless and forever. His birthday will also be celebrated by the generations to come. We pray for his long and healthy life,” said Patodia.
Bachchan has been a rage among the Indian cine goers in the 1970s and 1980s and is still amongst the most popular in the country.
Son of a Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, he quit his job as a Calcutta freight broker for films and earned recognition in the 1970s after playing a “Dirty Harry”- style cop in the ground-breaking movie ‘Zanjeer’.
His best-known film, “Sholay”, was playing in the theatres of Bombay for seven years – turning him into an icon in India, much like Elvis Presley in the West.
Fans in Bhopal city of India’s central Madhya Pradesh state also participated in the birthday celebrations with zeal.
An exhibition was organised by the fans club where a collection of posters, CDs, DVDs, long play records of some of Bachchan’s best films and books written by Khalid Mohammed were on display.
The organiser of the exhibition, Gauri Shankar Malviya said that fans gathered in huge numbers to catch a glimpse of their megastar’s photograph.
“Everyone celebrates the birthday of Amitabh Bachchan in their own way. We celebrate by organising an exhibition. The exhibition features host of items raging from Rs. 5 photo to books worth Rs. 4000, books written by Khalid Mohammed. It also includes LP records, cassette, video, books, film posters and photographs from his movie – ‘Zanjeer’ to ‘Bol Bachchan’,” said Malviya.
Millions of young men aped his distinctive hairstyle and people in remote villages rattle off lines from his films. A fatal accident he survived on the sets of “Coolie” in 1982 let the country into a tizzy, forcing state television to telecast hourly bulletins, the first in media history.
He was voted the millennium’s greatest star of the stage and screen in a BBC online poll in the year 1999, ahead of Hollywood icons including Lawrence Olivier, Humphrey Bogart and Charlie Chaplin.
He also became the first Indian movie actor whose wax statue was exhibited at Madame Tussaud’s museum in London.
While many contemporaries have retired from Bollywood, the silver-bearded actor still continues to enthral the audiences of all ages.
Big B also won the ‘Best Anchor’ award at the Indian Telly Awards 2012 for hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati 5 (KBC), which is the prime time show on Indian television.
He recently appeared in a cameo in seasoned actress Sridevi’s comeback film ‘English Vinglish’.
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Source:
http://www.indtvusa.com/fans-celebrate-superstar-amitabh-bachchans-70th-birthday-with-great-pomp-and-show/