| 7 | | Hindi cinema’s biggest star actor. Born in Allahabad, son of noted Hindi poet Harivanshrai Bachchan. Former stage actor, radio announcer and freight company executive in Calcutta. Although he initially had difficulties being accepted as an actor, his productions eventually determined the health of the whole Hindi film industry. [[Abbas]] gave him his first role in [[Saat Hindustani |
| | 7 | Hindi cinema’s biggest star actor. Born in Allahabad, son of noted Hindi poet Harivanshrai Bachchan. Former stage actor, radio announcer and freight company executive in Calcutta. Although he initially had difficulties being accepted as an actor, his productions eventually determined the health of the whole Hindi film industry. [[Abbas]] gave him his first role in [[Saat Hindustani (1969)|Saat Hindustani]]; next came a voice-over for Sen’s [[Bhuvan Shome]] (1969). Later, he also did the voice-over for [[Ray]]’s [[Shatranj Ke Khiladi]] (1977). Eventually became the superstar of the mid-70s TV, radio and the press issued daily bulletins on his health when he suffered a near-fatal accident in 1982 while shooting [[Coolie]]. In early [[Gulzar Sampooran Singh|Gulzar]]- scripted and [[Hrishikesh Mukherjee]]-directed films ([[Anand]], [[Namak Haram]]) and in Saudagar, based on Narendranath Mitra’s story, Bachchan is presented as a brooding, melancholic anti-hero drawn from Bengali literary stereotypes traceable to novelist Saratchandra Chattopadhyay and brought into Hindi film by [[Nitin Bose]], [[Bimal Roy]] and [[Asit Sen]]. |