Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan, currently the highest paid star in Bollywood, is arguably India’s most famous actor. An icon in India for almost 40 years, Bachchan’s films have had so much success and influence that you can trace the recent history of Bollywood cinema just by sitting down with his oeuvre. That’s the goal of this series, which will give you a glimpse into the evolving aesthetics of four decades of Bollywood by following Bachchan’s rise and alongside it, Bollywood’s rising ambition.

With his 1973 hit Zanjeer, Bachchan almost instantly became the face of the angry, young Indian man, a response to the country’s escalating political and economic crises. His next decade was as successful as any actor’s has ever been: he starred in what may be the most celebrated films in Bollywood history, Deewaarand Sholay, the latter of which is still the highest grossing film of all time in Indian cinema. Sholay draws heavily from the American Western, setting the stage for the burgeoning genre of “Curry Westerns,” and several decades after its release was named the “Film of the Millennium” by BBC India. After leaving the industry for a brief stint in politics in the 80s and for a supposed retirement in the 90s, Bachchan returned to stardom, this time in television, as the host of India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the inspiration for Slumdog Millionaire. As he’s aged, Bachchan has chosen patriarchial roles rather than leading man parts, most notably his extraordinary portrayal of a blind girl’s mentor in Black.

Friday, September 25, 8 pm FREE!
Zanjeer
(Prakash Mehra, 1973, India, 145 minutes, video)
Amitabh Bachchan plays Inspector Vijay Khanna, a police officer who is wrongly imprisoned based on false accusations by Teja, the leader of a powerful gang. Once released from prison, Vijay Khanna learns that Teja was also responsible for the murder of his family 20 years before and he sets out to seek revenge. Zanjeer is Bachchan’s breakout role into true stardom in India and a departure from his earlier romantic comedies. It also established him as the angry young man of Bollywood, a character type he’d come to own in the many films that followed.

Friday, October 2, 7 pm FREE!
Deewar
(Yash Chopra, 1975, India, 174 minutes, video)
Deewar is a classic Bollywood film, a mega-blockbuster that cemented Bachchan’s reputation as India’s angry young man. Perhaps the most famous commercial Hindi film ever made, Deewar summed up the attitude of a young, disaffected generation towards the turbulent politics and economy of 1970s India. The first collaboration between Bachchan and famed director Yash Chopra, Deewaar has been called “absolutely key to Indian cinema” by director Danny Boyle, who cited the film as an influence on his India blockbuster, Slumdog Millionaire. 

Friday, October 9, 7 pm FREE!
Sholay
(Ramesh Sippy, 1975, India, 188 minutes, video)
The highest grossing film of all time in India—it ran continuously in one Mumbai theater for over five years—Sholay is a classic of the “curry Western” style, which became popular in Hindi films in the 70s. The movie follows two small time crooks, Jai and Veeru (Bachchan and Dharmendra Deol), who are chosen by a former police officer, Thakur, to seek vengeance on a bandit who’d murdered Thakur’s family and maimed him for life. Deeply influenced by the westerns of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, Sholay was panned by the critics. A quarter-century later, BBC India named it the Film of the Millennium.

Friday, October 16, 7 pm FREE!
Kabhi Kabhie
(Yash Chopra, 1976, India, 177 minutes, video)
The follow-up film for Bachchan, costar Shashi Kapoor, and director Yash Chopra after their massive success with Deewar, Kabhi Kabhie is a romantic story about a young poet, Amit (Bachchan), and his love, Pooja. Though they are deeply in love, Pooja bows to the wishes of her parents and marries Vijay (Shashi Kapoor). That settles it—at least until the story fast-forwards to 20 years later and the next generation of lovers. Shot in Kashmir, Kabhi Kabhie is a sweet, easy-on-the-eyes Bollywood epic.

Friday, November 20, 8 pm FREE!
Black
(Sanjay Leela Bhan, 2005, India, 122 minutes, video)
Black is the story of a blind, deaf, and mute girl and her relationship with her teacher (Bachchan) who suffers from Alzheimer’s. A partial interpretation of Helen Keller’s autobiography The Story of My Life—but transferred to the Himalayas—Black was critically acclaimed throughout India and beyond. Though considered a Bollywood film, Black is a clear departure from classic Bollywood style, with only one musical number in this powerful, emotionally jarring film.