Amitabh@ 80 : His genial roles were as resonating

I have always felt that identifying the screen persona of Amitabh Bachchan with the label of the “angry young man” is unfair because even in his heyday when the angry young man was an image he seemed to have blended into, he was equally, if not more impressive in films where he played differently and did not subscribe to the “angry young man” not physically as we witnessed him in films like Deewar, Zanzeer, Don, Trishul, Agneepath, and so on.  There are films like Namak Haram, Mili, Chupke Chupke, Do Anjaane, Kabhie Kabhie, Jumana and many others. Here are four examples.

Anand (1971)

He first drew notice with Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film Anand, a tear-jerker featuring a young man dying of “lymphosarcoma of the intestines” which is colon cancer. Rajesh Khanna, then the top star, played Anand. Offering him support was Dr. Bhaskar (Amitabh Bachchan) who began treating Anand. This was an Amitabh who was a radical contrast to the Bachchan we got to know later. He was extremely thin, emphasized by his height, dark skin and a rich baritone that said little but meant a lot. 

The quiet, dignified and silent Bhaskar offers a dramatic contrast to the chirpy, talkative and loud Anand whose name spells out the joy and cheer he spreads around wherever he goes. It is only towards the end when Anand dies that Bhaskar breaks down and screams at Anand to talk, talk and talk and disturb him the way he did. It gives us a glimpse of the restraint Bachchan could put into practice even at that early stage of his career though he was pitted against the hottest star of Indian cinema at that time. 

Abhimaan (1973)

In some circles, the story went that the film was probably a throwback into the sad married life of Pandit Ravi Shankar

and his talented first wife Annapoorna Devi as it was rumoured that Annapurna Devi, the daughter of Ustad Allaudin Khan and sister of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was certainly more talented than her husband Pandit Ravi Shankar. But the story of Abhimaan is different. The only similarity lies in the fact that in the film, Uma (Jaya Bachchan), it is discovered, is much more talented than her husband Subir (Amitabh Bachchan), a famous singer with fans chasing for autographs. When she begins to sing in public, her husband is ignored completely and he does not like this. From this point on, the film moves in a completely different direction and turns into a melodramatic tear-jerker with a happy ending. The music is archived as the best among R.D. Burman’s oeuvre. Amitabh gave a sparkling performance as a famous public figure sucked into his own fame suddenly finding himself sidetracked by the very fans who chased him once, now chasing his wife. He cannot take it and his pregnant wife goes back to her village. This weakens the film for its overplaying the sentimental melodrama. Jaya Bachchan’s magnificent performance as the quiet, submissive yet talented Uma makes the film a memorable one.

Alaap (1977)

Alaap is one of the most emotionally rich portraitures of the conflict between a rich advocate and dominating father Triloki Prasad (Om Prakash) and his younger son Alok (Amitabh Bachchan) who is passionate about a dedicated career in Hindustani classical music. His father wants him to join the family business. But Alok prefers to pull a tonga for livelihood over joining his father’s practice. He leaves his father’s abode and finds life extremely difficult with only music as his means of survival. Om Prakash and Amitabh Bachchan are perfectly matched as father and son walking in diametrically opposite directions but hating it all the time.

Music, aptly created and composed by Jaidev forms the backbone of the film both physically and metaphorically. Rekha, who stands behind Alok and who he subsequently marries, plays the marginalised heroine as Raadhiya with minimum glamour to throw up a beautifully understated performance. The story is inspired by a work by Harindranath Chattopadhyay. The father is against any kind of musical career because he believes this has had an ‘unhealthy’ impact on his son of a famous courtesan and Ustads. So, he arranges to strip them of their livelihood. Alok leaves home and hearth for his music and also as his voice of protest against his father’s injustice towards those who inspired him. 

Alok finds himself in dire circumstances that escalate when he discovers that he has tuberculosis and is not able to use his voice. Hrishikesh Mukherjee created two different climaxes, one tragic and the other a happy one that ends with his father coming to take him away for treatment. But despite this subtle, low-key treatment, Alaap turned out to be a commercial failure. 

Main Azaad Hoon (1989)

Directed by Tinnu Anand, Main Azaad Hoon is an Indianised, updated adaptation of Franc Capra’s Gary Cooper-starrer Meet John Doe which gave birth to the phrase “John Doe” used when the name of a possible culprit is not identified. Amitabh’s character does not have a name right through the film.  He is christened “Azaad” by an ambitious journalist Subhashini (Shabana Azmi) who finds the gem of a column for her newspaper bylined by the common man “Azaad.” The column becomes an overnight hit and the mass readership demands a meeting with Azaad not knowing that he does not exist except as a fake name in a faked newspaper column. But he wins them over with his common-sense homilies.

Amitabh plays a penniless drifter who does not know what hit him when he finds that everyone wants to meet and hear him on a public platform. He has a friend (Annu Kapoor) equally in the doldrums who warns him not to listen to Subhashini but he does not and launches himself into a future he never bargained for. He gets involved in the problems of the place such as the village where drinking water is highly polluted, where workers in the local sugar mill are ruthlessly exploited, where student demonstrations are nipped in the bud by the dictatorial Establishment, where student power can be harnessed for sound social causes and where change can be effected if the people unite and act.

In one of her columns, Subhashini writes, on behalf of Azaad, that he will jump off the highest tower of the city on a given date as his mark of protest if the situation which the tower threatens to displace the slumdwellers and demolish the school where the slum kids study is not remedied immediately.

What holds the film together is the magnificent performance by every single actor with Bachchan topping the list. This is one of Bachchan’s most outstanding performances till 1989. The other pillar of support was the theme song penned by the late Kaifi Azmi, and the number was sung by Bachchan himself. Repeated through the film, it spreads the spirit of unity and action for the maximum good of the maximum number. Sadly, Main Azaad Hoon was a commercial failure. But it fetched Amitabh Bachchan his first National Award along with Agneepath in 1991.