Amitabh Bachchan, to see his movies, to see him, its a nice thing to be his contemporary. If one did’nt know how he was in person, it was difficult to imagine that this man who had starred in movies like ’Deewar’, ’Muquaddar ka Sikandar’ and ’Sholay’ could be so suave and debonair in person. Some things that make him great are his innate acting skills, his height, features, eyes, expressions, body language, his baritone voice. Look at any expression in some of his best movies- the way he picks up a glass, the way he looks, the way he speaks, modulating his voice- everything about him was charismatic, so convincing. What if he is’nt a great dancer? he is the ne plus ultra in both comedy and tragedy. ’Deewar’, ’Saudagar’, ’Amar Akbar Anthony’, ’Agnipath’, ’Black’, ’Baghban’ ... the versatality speaks. True, he has certain mannerisms, but then, many great actors have. This is a mark of personality, and Amitabh certainly has one. Yet, he has shown the capacity to escape the personality and be engulfed by the character he had to play. Maybe his sensibility suits and matches the Indian sensibility and maybe he might not have been so successful in different times, conditions, place but I am doubtful. Perhaps the way he is, he would be successful anytime, anywhere. But then, he was supported by good directors, scriptwriters, and others as well. In all his performances Amitabh has had a certain forcefulness, agression, protest, anger....subdued or overt, expressed or implied. This texture and tone of his acting was different from the simplicity of earlier actors like Bharat Bhushan and even from the acting of his contemporaries like Jitendra, Rajesh Khanna and others. Definitely, Amitabh was more intense, more convincing. Some of his movies are worth a thousand movies each. Some things he had in his genes: cultured parents, a poet for a father, being from UP.... After his ’Coolie’ accident he gave some of his worst movies. One cause of it was that in such bad movies like ’Ajooba’, ’Jadugar’ etc the scripts could not be made according to the aging star and according to the times; often we felt in those movies not the character assigned speaking and acting, but Amithabh Bachchan, the star, the man. Amitabh is like a catalyst: if the right elements are present, he will make them work well; if the elements are defective, the catalyst will still try. I used to wonder what kind of movies would Amitabh do when he gets old, as our Indian society does’nt have scope for very active roles for the aged and few of our movies show the aged taking the lead role. But its heartening to see that Amitabh has found the best that he can now in Bollywood. Still, his present movies are of a completely different world as compared with the movies of his younger days. The issues of those movies, the scripts and other things in movies like ’Sholay’, ’Deewar’ etc may seem outdated or unrefined now, but they reflected the temper of the times and I dont see them lose their appeal for quite some time. KBC was a different thing. We measure ourselves looking at him there, interacting with the common man, without any self-consciousness, being always in command. If one wants to know what being a gentleman means, see KBC. But then, Amitabh always has been so cultured, a family man, a good son, value-oriented, disciplined... He has his weaknesses, I suppose: bad financial decisions, bad decisions regarding politics, being too good, trusting too much, being indiscreet in choice of some movies and advertisements ( partly due to financial insecurity , maybe) and a little gentlemanly partiality for women. But that shows he is a human being, after all. Actors will find it difficult to surpass the benchmark he has set; the common man/woman will look up to him for being a good person.

Who is your all time favorite movie personality?

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