Amitabh's Birthday Today – Why Not Declare It As National Excellence Day?

Amitabh's Birthday Today – Why Not Declare It As National Excellence Day?
Take out the social relevance attached to his success, and just study Amitabh the person, and what we will get is a picture of excellence which cannot be learnt through books, but only through observing a true icon in action.

One man, one industry, one nation, one obsession – Amitabh Bachchan. As somebody who has grown up watching Bachchan perform some incredible roles with passion and panache, he continues to be a role model for the crafty exhibition of his excellence as well as for the excellence of his craft. It is incredible that the nation never tires of knowing the same things about him over and over again, be it through television, radio, newspapers, magazines, or the Internet.

There was a time in his career when many people wondered whether he would ever get himself out of the stereotype of the angry young man and perform more meaningful roles. Despite his iconic superstar status, his admirers too felt that the actor in him was yet to flower. Then came a downslide in his career before KBC resurrected him, and lo! the dawn of a new millennium also brought along with it an Amitabh who had resurrected his life and reinvented himself professionally, rising like a phoenix.

Ageing acted as a positive boost to the acting talent that lay hidden within him for so long, caught up in preserving the star, who fought illusory battles on reel for common people's real life problems. Amitabh was not just a star, he was the mechanism of relief for the Indian masses, who for long had to go through hard life battles, finding an irrational sense of succour in the lanky and unconventional looking `system fighter on screen` from Allahabad taking on the bad guys of the world, almost single handedly. On screen, when Amitabh punched the villain in his trademark style, the masses packed a punch emotionally as they let out another element of their stored-up frustration.

It almost seemed like God had planted Amitabh in a particular space as part of a larger cosmic role to execute the task of helping people cope with their struggles in a manner which was at once creative as well as bizarre. So, it is perhaps incorrect to say that Amitabh did not want to break away from the mould, maybe, the masses themselves could not release their star from the image they had constructed about him. Seen this way, it is clear why the entire nation prayed hard to recall Amitabh from the jaws of death after the Coolie accident, for his death might have not only meant the loss of a loved one, but also of hope.

Ageing allowed Amitabh to experiment and further evolve as an actor, but it was not before a long personal-professional struggle that he could resurrect himself and endear himself all over again to the nation, obsessed with his voice, personality, dialogue delivery, and depth of conviction while portraying various characters on celluloid.

But while there is a strong social context to Bachchan's success, what is fundamentally true about his mega status is his mega professionalism. He has always been considered to be a director's actor, who would do his part without interfering with the script. Not just that, his discipline, quality consciousness and single minded devotion to his profession are areas of learning critical for a nation, where excellence is compromised regularly and in absurd ways. Take out the social relevance attached to his success, and just study Amitabh the person, and what we will get is a picture of excellence which cannot be learnt through books, but only through observing a true icon in action.

So, as the nation once again obsesses about its Shahenshah as he turns 70, is it time to ponder whether we should declare October 11^th as National Excellence Day?

Happy Birthday Mr Amitabh Bachchan – bas naam hi kaafi hai!