Amitabh Bachchan (né Srivastava; born 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, playback singer, and producer who primarily works in Hindi cinema. Widely considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema, he has starred in over 200 films. Bachchan has been called "the Angry Young Man", the Shahenshah of Bollywood, Sadi ke Mahanayak (literally meaning "superstar of the century"), Bollywood's Star of the Millennium, or simply Big B. His dominance in the Indian film industry during the 1970s–80s led the French director François Truffaut to describe him as a "one-man industry". He is a recipient of several accolades including seven National Film Awards and seventeen Filmfare Awards & one South Filmfare award.
Bachchan was born in Allahabad (now Prayagraj), and he was educated at Sherwood College, Nainital, Uttarakhand and Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi. His film career started in 1969 as a voice narrator in Mrinal Sen's film Bhuvan Shome and first gained popularity in the early-1970s, with films, such as Anand, Zanjeer, Namak Haraam and Roti Kapda Aur Makaan. He achieved greater stardom in later years, being dubbed as "Angry Young Man" for several of his on-screen roles in Hindi films. He consistently starred in a number of top-grossing Hindi films from the mid-1970s to the 1980s, such as Deewaar, Sholay, Kabhi Kabhie, Hera Pheri, Amar Akbar Anthony, Parvarish, Trishul, Don, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Kasme Vaade, Suhaag, Kaala Patthar, Dostana, Naseeb, Lawaaris, Namak Halaal, Khud-Daar, Coolie, Andhaa Kanoon, Sharaabi and Mard. Some of his most acclaimed performances, include Majboor, Chupke Chupke, Mili, Do Anjaane, Alaap, The Great Gambler, Shaan, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat, Silsila, Kaalia, Satte Pe Satta, Bemisal, Shakti, Aakhree Raasta and Shahenshah. Bachchan was voted the "greatest star of stage or screen" in the BBC Your Millennium online users poll in 1999. In October 2003, Time magazine said he is the undisputed godfather of Bollywood.
After taking a break from acting in the 1990s, Bachchan's resurgence was marked in 2000 with Mohabbatein. Since then he starred in several successful and acclaimed films like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Aankhen, Baghban, Veer-Zaara, Khakee, Black, Sarkar, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Cheeni Kum, Paa, Piku, Pink, Badla, Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva and Kalki 2898 AD. He also made an appearance in the Hollywood film, The Great Gatsby (2013), in which he played a non-Indian Jewish character.
Bachchan has won numerous accolades in his career, including record four National Film Awards in Best Actor category and many awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies. He has won sixteen Filmfare Awards and is the most nominated performer in any major acting category at Filmfare with 34 nominations in Best Actor and 42 nominations overall. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1984, the Padma Bhushan in 2001, the Padma Vibhushan in 2015, and India's highest award in the field of cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2018 for his contributions to the arts. The Government of France honoured him with its highest civilian honour, Officer of the Legion of Honour, in 2007 for his exceptional career in the world of cinema and beyond.
In addition to acting, Bachchan has worked as a playback singer, film producer, and television presenter. He has hosted several seasons of the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, which is the Indian version of the game show franchise, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. He also entered politics for a time in the 1980s. Bachchan has also been involved in several humanitarian works and he is a brand endorser in India. Beyond the Indian subcontinent, he acquired a large overseas following of the South Asian diaspora, as well as others, in markets including Africa (South Africa, Eastern Africa, and Mauritius), the Middle East (especially Egypt and the UAE), the United Kingdom, Russia, Central Asia, the Caribbean (Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago), Oceania (Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand), Canada and the United States.
Bachchan was born on 11 October 1942 in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) to Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan and social activist Teji Bachchan. Harivansh Rai Bachchan was an Awadhi Hindu Kayastha, who was fluent in Awadhi, Hindi and Urdu. Harivansh's ancestors came from a village called Babupatti, in the Raniganj tehsil, in the Pratapgarh district, in the present-day state of Uttar Pradesh, in India. Teji Bachchan was a Punjabi Sikh Khatri from Lyallpur, Punjab, British India (present-day Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan). Bachchan has a younger brother, Ajitabh, who is five years younger than him.
Bachchan's parents were initially going to name him Inquilaab (Hindustani for "Revolution"), inspired by the phrase Inquilab Zindabad ("Long live the revolution") popularly used during the Indian independence struggle; the name Amitabh was suggested to his father by poet Sumitranandan Pant. Although his surname was Srivastava, Amitabh's father, who opposed the caste system, had adopted the pen name Bachchan ("child-like" in colloquial Hindi), under which he published all of his works. When his father was looking to get him admitted to a school, he and Bachchan's mother decided the family's name should be Bachchan instead of Shrivastava. It is with this last name that Amitabh debuted in films and used for all other practical purposes, Bachchan has become the surname for all of his immediate family. Bachchan's father died in 2003, and his mother in 2007.
Bachchan's secondary education was at Boys' High School & College in Allahabad and Sherwood College in Nainital. He attended Kirori Mal College at the University of Delhi in Delhi. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Kirori Mal College in 1962. When Bachchan finished his studies, his father approached Prithviraj Kapoor, the founder of Prithvi Theatre and patriarch of the Kapoor acting family, to see if there was an opening for him, but Kapoor offered no encouragement. Bachchan was a friend of Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, before he became an actor. He used to spend time with them when he was a resident in New Delhi. Bachchan's family were very close to the Nehru-Gandhi family of politicians. When Sonia Gandhi first came to India from Italy before her marriage, Bachchan had received her at the Palam International Airport on 13 January 1968. She spent 48 days at Bachchan's house with his parents before her wedding to Rajiv.
In the late 1960s, Bachchan applied to be a newsreader for All India Radio in Delhi, but "failed the audition". He became a business executive for Bird & Company in Kolkata (Calcutta), and worked in theatre before starting his film career. It is thought that his mother might have had some influence on his choice of career, for she always insisted that he should "take centre stage".
Bachchan made his film debut in 1969, as a voice narrator in Mrinal Sen's National Award–winning film Bhuvan Shome. His first acting role was as one of the seven protagonists in the film Saat Hindustani, directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and featuring Utpal Dutt, Anwar Ali (brother of comedian Mehmood), Madhu and Jalal Agha. Anand (1971) followed, in which Bachchan starred alongside Rajesh Khanna. His role as a doctor with a cynical view of life garnered Bachchan his first Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. He then played his first antagonist role as an infatuated lover-turned-murderer in Parwana (1971). Following Parwana, he starred in several films, including Sunil Dutt's Reshma Aur Shera (1971) where he played a mute character. During this time, he made a guest appearance in the film Guddi which starred his future wife Jaya Bhaduri. He narrated part of the film Bawarchi. In 1972, he made an appearance in the road action comedy Bombay to Goa directed by S. Ramanathan which was moderately successful. Many of Bachchan's films during this early period did not do well. His only film with Mala Sinha, Sanjog (1972) was also a box office failure.