Big B is still big in Bollywood

Not very long ago a young director had advised Amitabh Bachchan to retire from Bollywood. If his performance in Sarkar Raj was anything to go by the director should think about his own retirement instead. His critics have always criticised his item boy like characters in recent times, but Big B has time and again silenced these people by delivering stunning performances like Sarkar Raj.

It was being predicted that Abhishek Bachchan would take lead from Amitabh in Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar Raj and the flow of the story at the initial stage made us feel so. But the last 25 minutes proved Abhishek has a long way to go before he steps on to his father's shoes and become the numero uno star in the industry.

With his comeback movie Mohabbatein, Big B redefined how older characters can draw audience to the theatres and not be treated as furnitures in the movie. His return to Bollywood inspired many stars of his era like Dharmendra and Hema Malini to make a comeback and play roles of older people once considered to be the speciality of little known actors.

Baghban was a shining example how Amitabh can have a script written on him even when he is on the wrong side of 60. Baghban not only appealed to the older generation but also attracted the young audience many of whom were not even born when he was churning blockbusters in the 70s and 80s. Producers running after him is a testimony to his success.

It is not just the silver screen that he excelled on, Big B revived the concept of a game show on Indian television when he hosted Kaun Banega Crorepati which not only captured the imagination of the audience but sent the TRP of the channel sky rocketing. This magic was never repeated again even when Shahrukh hosted the same show or even with his recent Paanchvi Paas and Salman's 10 Ka Dum.

It is true that Big B has done roles in movies like Nishabd and Boom which are different from the moral values of an average Indian elderly person. But isn't an artist allowed to experiment with different characters. Critics always follow successful people and not failure and this is the reason why Big B has an army of critics behind him. At the end of the day he lives up to the title BBC gave him 'Superstar of the Millennium.'