While at Kirori Mal College, Amitabh participated in the college drama society, 'The Players' established by Frank Thakurdas and Keval Arora in 1957. He was asked to audition for the role after Thakurdas heard his voice across the corridor. During his graduation years he acted in various plays alongside fellow actors Dinesh Thakur and Kulbhushan Kharbanda as a part of the same theatre group.

After graduating and trying out various career paths, including the role of broadcaster at the All India Radio, where the executives did not find his voice suitable for the radio Amitabh took an executive job at Bird & Co., Calcutta and later switched to Blacker & Co., a job that provided him better pay with lodgings and conveyance.\r
While in Calcutta, Amitabh joined the Calcutta Amateur Theatre Society (CATS), alongside his regular job, and toured all over rular Bengal, performing the works of Bolt, Miller, Beckett, Pinter and Shakespeare.

Amitabh's first release as an actor was Khwaja Ahmad Abbas's Saat Hindustani. The film set against the backdrop of the Goan freedom movement released on 7 November 1969 and featured seven comparatively new faces mostly emerging from IPTA's guild of actors and directors in the Hindi cinema - Utpal Dutt, Anwar Ali, Jalal Agha, Madhu, Madhukar, Amitabh Bachchan and Shehnaz Agha. Regarded as an important film for its theme of national integration, it won numerous accolades including the National Film Awards for Best Newcomer for Amitabh Bachchan.\r
Despite being critically acclaimed the film wasn't a huge success with its release being delayed as the distributors were hesitant in releasing a black & white film in the late 60s when colour was the norm.\r
During a preview screening of the film for Meena Kumari, a long time collaborator of Abbas, she is said to have been extremely curious about the tall actor cast as the tortured prisioner and predicted that Amitabh would become a major star one day, but nobody believed her at that time.

The year also marked the launch of what has come to be known as the 'Indian New Wave' cinema. Small budget films produced by the Government of India through National Film Devlopment Corporation, helped for a new aesthetic to be developed in the midst of the commercial song and dance laden films being produced by the Hindi film industry. Largely inspired by Italian Neorealism, and influenced by the broader historical and cultural shifts in India, the Parallel Cinema movement gave voice to a nation in the process of forging its own national identity. Abbas's Saat Hindustani was also influenced by similar ideals, much like his earlier films that he wrote for Raj Kapoor, reflecting the Nehruvian ideology in all his works.\r
In 1969, Mrinal Sen's Bhuvan Shome, among other significant films of this movement, such as Uski Roti by Mani Kaul were completed. Bachchan gave the voice over for Bhuvan Shome starring Utpal Dutt.

Amitabh was cast as the second lead alongside superstar Rajesh Khanna in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand, released on 12 March 1971.\r
Rajesh Khanna was the winner of the 1965 edition of the All India Talent Contest organised by United Producers and Filmfare, along with Farida Jalal. He went on to achieve superstardom between 1969-1974 giving a series of 15 blockbuster hits starting off with Shakti Samanta's Aradhana in 1969. That kind of stardom was someting of an engima which had been previously unheard or unseen of in the Hindi film industry, making Khanna probably the greatest romantic star only trumped by the mastero K.L. Saigal. It's been noted that the crazed adulation and obsessive love he received from his women fans are matters of legend, something Bachchan at his height of stardom could not achieve.\r
Anand became a huge success on its release. The film was Amitabh's first release in Bombay, and his character Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee, endearingly called Babu Moshai — a quintessential Bengali form of address used for gentlemen, became quite popular, providing Amitabh with a taste of stardom. For the first time the actor's car was mobbed at a petrol pump in Juhu, on the day of film's release. Bachchan later went on to mention, "Three shows had altered my destiny. I was a transformed man."

Even after the initial success of Anand, Bachchan was not yet in a position where he could pick and choose his roles, so he grabbed what was offered to him. His next release was Sunil Dutt's directorial Reshma aur Shera, in which he essayed the role of the Thakur's mute son. Released on 23 July 1971, in aid of the Cancer Patients Society, the film could not impress audiences although it was chosen as India's entry to the International Film Festival, San Francisco, 1971 and was selected by the Film Federation of India as India's official entry to the Academy Awards (Oscars) of 1971. The year's releases also included Parwana, in which Bachchan played a grey character, quite early on in his career, and Pyaar Ki Kahani with Tanuja. None of the films though proved to be a commercial success.

Prakash Verma's Bansi Birju, released in 1972, was the story of a courtesan falling in love with a poet, a trope not new in Hindi cinema. While Guru Dutt's Pyaasa (1957) was a dive into the mind of a poet disillusioned by the failures of the world and his encounters with Gulabo, the golden hearted prostitute; Bachchan's Birju marries Bansi, but trouble arises when the village discovers her identity as a prostitute. Shakti Samanta's Amar Prem released in the same year, starring Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore, looks at the figure of the prostitute through a maternal lens as the characters of Khanna and Tagore never get together romantically but are brought closer through the figure of Nandu, an ill-treated child whom Tagore grows to treat as her own child.\r
Bansi Birju was also the first film of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri together, who would wed in the course of the next year. Bhaduri who had proved her mettle with films like Satyajit Ray's Mahanagar and Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Guddi was notably the bigger star during this time and would go on to work closely in the 'middle of the road' films directed by the likes of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee.

Along with a string of flops with Bansi Birju, Ek Nazar and Raaste Ka Patthar the same year Amitabh also starred in S. Ramanathan's Bombay to Goa and S. S. Balan's Sanjog, both a remake of Tamil Films, Madras to Pondicherry (1966) and Iru Kodugal (1969) respectively, salvaged his standing in the box-office to a certain extent.\r
It was during the shooting of Bombay to Goa, the screenwriting duo Salim-Javed saw Bachchan performing the action scenes of the film and thought of suggesting his name to Prakash Mehra for his forthcoming venture Zanjeer, written by them, a film that would become the starting point of Bachchan's trajectory in the film industry. In a light-hearted anecdote, actor Mehmood has told Mehra that 'He (Bachchan) is so tall that it's difficult to get his duplicate to do fight scenes, so he does them himself.'

Released on 11 May 1973, Zanjeer marked the start of Bachchan's collaboration with Prakash Mehra and also the writers Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. The duo went on to work in around 7 films together, with genres ranging from serious, to action to out and out comedy films. With Zanjeer, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan also forayed into film distribution. According to Amitabh, "Zanjeer was shot at a time when everything I was doing was failing at the box office. There was a great deal of apprehension in the financial market, and amongst the people who had invested money in the project. To their credit, I must say Prakash Mehra and Salim-Javed never once doubted me, or what they expected from me. I was wooing Jaya those days. It was nice to be with someone with whom you knew you were to get together permanently." (Cine Blitz).

A product of its time, Zanjeer started the wave of what came to be known as the Angry Young Man era of Hindi cinema with Salim-Javed writing the scripts of the uncanny hero in the persona of the common man who takes it upon himself to stand against the injustice of the establishment. Many of these roles were portrayed by Bachchan, sealing his stature as a superstar.\r
It was in the 1970s that the newly re-elected government of Indira Gandhi raised the slogan "Garibi Hatao" in the face of increased inflation, unemployment and widespread political and financial corruption. The period saw a lot of unrestrained anger among the working-class and student uprisings. Bihar saw the revival of retired politician Jay Prakash Narayan, who led the protests against the government.\r
Zanjeer, simulates the anger of the common man turned vigilante standing up against the system he himself is a part of. Both righteous and disillusioned by the system, he grabbed the culprit by the collar and knocked on a dormant conscience. The iconic scene of Bachchan with Pran where his character says the unforgettable line: "Jab tak baithne ko na kaha jaye khade raho. Ye police station hai, tumhare baap ka ghar nahi" (You will not sit till you are asked to. This is a police station not your home!) presented a supressed rage shared by the audience. The hero was not a romanticised messiah but an everyday figure, rough around the edges, who's beaten down by a predatory social order but chooses to stand against the establishment and speak for his rights and by extension, the rights of every working-class individual. It was the beginning of anti-establishment films where the hero was an anti-hero.

Abhimaan (1973) directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, starring Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan was loosely inspired by the 1954 film A Star is Born and went on to become a hit on the box-office and later a classic. Parallels were drawn between Amitabh and Jaya's off-screen equation and the film's plot that revolved around a man's growing insecurity and discomfort with his wife's achievements as a singer. \r
Bachchan's collaborations with Mukherjee mostly portrayed him in roles that strayed from his action hero persona that the audience had grown to recognise. In these films, he rarely lifted a hand, and was rather the egoistical singer envious of his own wife's sucess in Abhimaan, or the son of the rich businessman in Namak Haraam. Both films were released in the same year as Zanjeer, the film responsible for bringing to life the angry young man of the Hindi Cinema.

Gehri Chaal released in 1973 portrayed Amitabh as the outright villain. The film was shot pre Zanjeer and post Seeta aur Geeta; as a result, the distributor insisted that the climax should be only on Hema Malini, who was by then the undisputed top actress. \r
Another release of the year was Saudagar opposite Nutan, which was also India's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 46th Academy Awards. Based on the writer Narendranath Mitra's story Ras, Saudagar is a saga of love, hope and betrayal. The film also sheds light on the unpaid labour of women in marriage. Moti's intention to marry Majubi was only because he wanted to save the jaggery-maker's wage and needed someone who could also take care of the house and when he leaves her to marry the young and innocent Phool Bano, his expectations are broken leading him to go back to Mujabee by the end of the film.

The 1973 release Namak Haraam, was a continuity of the Anand team with same actors and directors, though with the role reversal in the current instalment. Mukherjee had stated that "In Hindi films the one who dies is considered a hero and Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh were both keen on being heroic. I didn't reveal the end to either of them until the day of shooting. I wanted it to be a secret.” \r
In an interview with the Cine Blitz magazine Amitabh spoke about the importance of Namak Haraam in his film career and stated that, “In many ways I consider it to be closer to the "angry young man" image that would follow later."

In 1975 Bachchan collaborated again with Hrishikesh Mukherjee in two films, Chupke Chupke and Mili, both alongside his wife Jaya Bachchan. Chupke Chupke released on 11 April 1975 was a remake of the 1971 Uttam Kumar–starrer, Chhadmabeshi, a successful Bengali film directed by Agradoot. The screenplay was jointly adapted in Hindi by D.N. Mukherjee and Gulzar, who gave this film some of its memorable dialogues. The second collaboration of the year, Mili, was released two months after Chupke Chupke. A heartwarming tale of companionship and healing, "Hrishi-da described the film as an antithesis of Anand," stated Amitabh in an interview. Mili proved to be powerful in terms of performances, script, music and direction. This was Amitabh Jaya's third and last film together for common mentor Hrishikesh Mukherjee as well as with S.D. Burman.

Yash Chopra, who made his directorial debut with the 1959 film Dhool Ka Phool, had announced Kabhi Kabhie, in 1974, with an ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Rakhee, Shashi Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor and started the shoot in Kashmir. During this time, Salim-Javed recited to him the story of a dock worker who rises to be a don, loosely based on the real-life gangster Haji Mastan. Kabhie Kabhie being a complex film was slated for later and Chopra started working on the story with Amitabh and Shashi Kapoor as the two brothers and Nirupa Roy, their mother.\r
Deewaar (1975), a mother-son story based on the lines of Mother India (1957), has since been regarded as one of the best screenplays written in Indian cinema and has gained the status of an important classic.

Writers Salim-Javed, introduced the racy Hollywood-type thriller in Deewar but it was done with the archetypical concern for the mother-son relationship that is so crucial to the emotional mooring of the Hindi film. Deewaar became a huge hit running for over 75 weeks in theatres and has earned the status of cult classic. Considered as one of the best screenplays written in Hindi cinema, the film catapulted Salim-Javed to a unique celebrity status never seen before for screen-writers. Their names became the selling point for films being highlighted along with the actor and director.

Legendary producer GP Sippy's idea to make the biggest film ever, with Sholay (1975) and to cast the lanky and unconventional looking Amitabh Bachchan catapulted him to the top. Bachchan's characters during this era were not the typical heroes that audiences were used to seeing on screen. Romance in his films became the second fiddle while the main driving force for his characters remained ingrained in the subdued anger of his characters and their quest for justice. In Ramesh Sippy's Sholay, Bachchan, half of the con duo, Jai and Veeru, is the antithesis of the energetic and charming Veeru played by Dharmendra. He does not engage in extended dialogue with the villain Gabbar Singh treating him instead with extreme condescension. \r
"Sholay was released in 1975, a year after Basu Chatterjee's Rajnigandha. It was made by Ramesh Sippy and featured Amitabh Bachchan, Amjad Khan, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri. The most extraordinary thing about Sholay has been its fabulous success which has made it something of a landmark in Indian film history. Although its textual values were inspired by Amrican spaghetti westerns, it used an idiom that was not only new to Indian audiences but on that indicated the level of cinematic articulation that the Hindi film can achieve."

Prakash Mehra's next collaboration with Bachchan was Hera Pheri, a comedy that proved to be extremely successful at the box-office. The film also initiated the actor's pairing with Vinod Khanna, another rising star of the era. They went on to do many films together, including Mehra's Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Muqaddar Ka Sikandar was loosely inspired from Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel Devdas; the film became a mega-hit emerging as the biggest earner of the year. Although not necessarily an extreme portrayal of the angry man on the screen the film had its own moments, and the subdued rage of the main character was embodied perfectly by Amitabh.

Announced in 1974, Yash Chopra's Kabhi Kabhie was released in 1976. It followed the usual markers of a Yash Chopra film with a star-studded cast, scenic locations, great music and the trademark romance of the auteur. The film, on release, was a huge success and was shot mostly in Pahalgam, Kashmir; much remembered by Bachchan in his later years. With Kabhi Kabhie Chopra defied sexual mores and created a one-of-a-kind Hindi film hero in Vijay (played by Shashi Kapoor). Contrasting Amitabh's granite-faced toeing of the conservative line in the film, Vijay was refreshingly unconventional and avant grade, a large-hearted man amongst narrow-minded boys. The film's music, composed by Khayyam and lyrics written by Sahir Ludhianvi, the film's soundtrack is still considered one of the bests of Indian cinema.

In between the angry young man era of performances, Bachchan also dissuaded from the archetype created for him in form of films such as Immaan Dharam and Hera Pheri. Immaan Dharam revolving around the two tricksters played by Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor, the heroes rise to become good Samaritans, something that Sholay also portrayed with Jai and Veeru. These films anticipated Amitabh as an entertainer, a shift from the broody characters that he was known for playing during that time, giving him a carefree image that Manmohan Desai would soon establish and take to new heights.\r
Another director which took Bachchan and moulded him into characters that were not essentialy the saviours but on the contrary, themselves needed to be saved. Even later as producers and directors capitalised on Bachchan's larger than life persona, collaborations with Mukherjee were melodramas of personal tension between close individuals. Alaap, released in 1977, was a tragic tale of an aspiring singer played by Bachchan and the adopted daughter of legendary singer and Bachchan's mentor, played by Rekha. It was also the first filkm for which the actor's father, the legendary poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan had penned the lyrics of the song, 'Koi gaata main so jaata' a classic sung by K. J. Yesudas. Mukherjee later mentioned that the original script had a different ending but the gloom of the Emergency had made him pessimistic which reflected in the film and may have led to it not being a commercial hit.

Manmohan Desai and Amitabh Bachchan's first collaboration was the 1977 film Amar Akbar Anthony, starring Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan, in the lead roles. Desai's film is a depiction of a Hindi cinema style of syncretism, where references to the nation and appeal for communal amity remain oblique. The film is a testimonial to the limits of the Nehruvian secular nationalism. It explores the religious divide between communities that remains central to national politics. Amar Akbar Anthony's importance was multifaceted, and its success confirmed Bachchan's status as the superstar of the decade. The same year, the one half of the Amar Akbar Anthony team reunited for Desai's Parvarish, a crime drama following similar tropes of lost and found that were a common finding in many of Desai's films.

Directed by Yash Chopra and written by Salim-Javed, Trishul (1978) was a quintessential 'angry young man' film, a family revenge saga that combined elements of betrayal, brotherhood and loyality. The film's idea was later rehashed and used in many films like Uttar Dakshin and Vansh, but somehow it never had the same impact. Trishul was a blockbuster and the credit went to the extremely gripping and intense script of Salim-Javed. Telling the story of a turbulent relationship between a father and son, the fiery dialogues exchanged between Sanjeev Kumar and Amitabh it is said were Javed's indirect attacks at his father, Jan Nissar Akhtar.\r
Salim Khan in an interview mentioned that Amitabh's character was probably the first real illegitimate child on the Hindi screen. Unlike the films preceeding this theme, Bachchan's character's anger in this film was more personal as it was a son against his father, instead of a common man against the establishment.

Another Salim-Javed script with Amitabh Bachchan as the lead hero, released in 1978 was Chandra Barot's Don. It was the first time a hero played a negative character without any justification or a redemption arc. A story of a dangerous criminal, wanted in eleven countries, Amitabh in Don played double role: the innocent Vijay and the ruthless criminal Don. The dialogues by Javed Akhtar became a highlight of the film, with Bachchan's “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi namumkin hai” being iconic even after almost five decades.\r
The film's music composed by Kalyanji-Anandji was used in the tv series American Dad! Episode 'Tearjearker' while the intro of the song 'Yeh Mera Dil' was sampled by Black Eyed Peas for the song “Don't Phunk with my Heart.” A few anecdotes also suggest that the song 'Khaike Paan Banaraswala' was not a part of the original cut of the film. Manoj Kumar had recorded the song for another film but couldn't use it and suggested his ex-assistant and the director of the film Chandra Barot to incorporate it in his film. The song went on to become one of the biggest selling points of the film and was later remade in the remake of the film by Farhan Akhtar in 2006, with Shahrukh Khan portraying the character of Don.

Shakti Samanta's The Great Gambler (1978) saw the director's shift from his usual favourite actor Rajesh Khanna to Bachchan for the dual role in this crime action film based on the novel of the same name by Vikramaditya.

Yash Chopra's Kala Patthar brough the era of the angry young man characters played by Bachchan to a culminative high. Salim-Javed's writing took inspiration from the real-life incident in Chasnala, Dhanbad where almost 400 miners lost their lives and Joseph Conrad's book 'Lord Jim,' a story of a ship's captain who is censured for abandoning his ship, which became the starting point of Bachchan's character Vijay. Made during the period of major upheaval in the country which was at the tail-end of post-independence idealism and the aftermaths of the emergency era brought on by Indira Gandhi, the film aptly captured the various facets of this era in Salim-Javed's writing whose 'angry young man' was a direct by-product of the happenings in the country. \r
Though in the later years Bachchan did carry forward this image of the 'angry young man,' in those later outings the anger was more personal and concentrated to the bylines of family and loved ones, it was in Kaala Patthar that both Chopra and Bachchan brought out the societal angst against the system. Possibly the only out and out 'political' film made by Chopra, the film was a commentary on the socialization and nationalization of the country's resources, that played a role not only in the self-reliance but also the systematic corruption and looting of those resources along with valuing profits over people's lives.

We again see Amitabh Bachchan the mega-star flirting with middle of the road cinema and real-life characters. This was Bachchan's only film as hero with Basu Chaterjee, though he did cameos in his films like Chhoti Si Baat and Khatta Meetha.

The rumours of the alleged romance between Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha first started during the making of the 1979 film Mr. Natwarlal. Bachchan also made his singing debut in this film with “Mere paas aao mere doston ek kissa suno”, a song tailor-made for his range by Rajesh Roshan. The lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi, who had all of Bachchan's musical 'firsts' – the first songs lip synched by him, his debut playback song, and the first ABCL film, Tere Mere Sapne, later.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee's film Jurmana starring Amitabh Bachchan boasted of an exceptional soundtrack with the song 'Saawan Ke Jhoole Pade' being the most notable. It was during the film's premiere in Los Angeles that the film's distributor Kirti Trivedi had the idea of organising concerts of Bollywood stars. The premier saw a footfall of around 2,000 people on a week-day showcasing the popularity of Hindi film stars. Trivedi thought that this popularity could be translated into the hosting of successful stage shows.\r
Amitabh Bachchan appeared as the chief guest for Lata Mangeshkar's concert in the USA (1980), at the behest of Kirit Trivedi and director Prakash Mehra for the promotion of the song 'Mere angne mein' from the film Laawaris, which was recieved with a thunderous applause. On sensing a bright opportunity, Kirit Trivedi flew to India to discuss the possibilities of organising live shows with Kalyanji-Anandji, the composers of the above-mentioned song.

Dostana was the last film together of the scriptwroting duo Salim-Javed who were on the verge of a split during the making of this film. It was a turbulent time both on and off screen because even the relationship between the lead stars Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha, the two protagonists, seemed under strain.

Silsila (1981) was Amitabh Bachchan's last collaboration with Yash Chopra, before they collaborated again in 2004 for a special appearance in another Yash Chopra directorial. The film involving Amitabh, Rekha and Jaya Bachchan was a love triangle written by Sagar Sarhadi and Chopra. Released around the time when the rumours of Bachchan's relationship were Rekha were rampant, many touted the film to be a depiction of the real life story of the three actors, though these claims were denied by all those involved in the film.\r
With music scored by Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, the film's soundtrack was a huge success. The Holi song 'Rang Barse' was penned by Harivansh Rai Bachchan and sung by Amitabh Bachchan. It was the biggest hit of the album and remains one of the most popular Holi songs to date.

Amitabh's last film with director Hrishikesh Mukherjee was released on 5 March 1982, and had a repeat cast from the director's previous film Jurmana. Based on the 1975 Bengali film Ami Shey O Shakha, an Uttam Kumar classic based on Ashutosh Mukherjee's eponymous novel, Bemisal had Amitabh Bachchan playing a double role. Poignantly, the title of the last ever Amitabh Bachchan-Hrishikesh Mukherjee collaboration epitomizes the quality of their association and joint contribution.\r
A deserving end to their decade old relationship the film went on to complete a silver jubilee at the box-office and was declared a hit. \r
Mukherjee mentioned in an interview that, "On the day we were to shoot his last scene, he met with that fateful accident on the sets of Coolie so the scene was eventually shot after a gap of few months." Mukherjee was also the editor of Manmohan Desai's Coolie (1983).

Shakti, released in 1982, was one of the last films of Bachchan's angry young man era and also Salim-Javed's last film as a duo with Amitabh. It was the only time he shared the screen with the legend Dilip Kumar playing the role of his father.

The 1982 film Satte Pe Satta was an adaptation of the 1954 musical-comedy film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers directed by Stanley Donen. While the director had no problems putting 13 pairs in place he could not find the perfect partner for Bachchan. They toyed with various names but kept coming back to Hema Malini. Hema had stopped signing new films because she was pregnant. Sippy met Hema and convinced her he would complete the film in a few months.

The year marked one of the most defining periods of Amitabh Bachchan's life. While shooting for the Manmohan Desai and Prayag Raj directorial venture Coolie, the actor was involved in a near fatal accident while performing a stunt scene with Puneet Issar, on 26 July 1982.\r
The accident and the subsequent surgery was testament to Bachchan's popularity as a star, as crowds of fans thronged the hospital and organised prayers for the actor's well-being. He was released from the hospital after spending around 2 months in the ICU. \r
In the same year Amitabh also starred in another Manmohan Desai directorial, Desh Premee.

Coolie, directed jointly by Manmohan Desi and Prayag Raaj, relased on 2 December 1983. The film opened to a fan frenzy, with many people even sleeping on pavements outside the theatres to watch their favourite star in the film which had nearly cost him his life. The scene of his accident was immortalised by the director with a freeze frame within the film during the sequence in which Bachchan meets with the accident. Coolie had a 75-week run at the box-office becoming one of the biggest hits of the year.

1981-1983 saw Amitabh's rise as a performer in stage shows, accompanied with the music directors Kalyanji-Anandji. Between this time he did 25 such performances with each setting a new record. Amitabh's journey as a concert star began with nine shows, one each at Houston, New York, Toronto, Chicago and Detroit, and four in the West Indies. The response was phenomenal. The footfall at the Houston show, on a weekday, crossed 3,300, an unprecedented record at that time for a Hindi film star! People drove from as far as Dallas to attend the concert. \r
In October 1983, Bachchan became the first Asian to perform at Madison's main arena with a capacity of 22,000 people. The show at Madison Square Garden, New York, broke Frank Sinatra's record of $100,000 collections with an impressive $125,000! Such was the craze that $50 tickets were sold in black for $60!

The year of 1984 was a tumultous one in India's history. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination and subsequent pogroms sent the whole country into a state of frenzy. Amitabh Bachchan, a close family accquaintance to the Gandhis chose to stand by his childhood friend Rajiv Gandhi in this time of upheaval. He contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Allahabad constituency, his hometown, on a Congress ticket. This was Bachchan's first foray into the world of politics. Contesting against Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna of the Lok Dal party, Amitabh emerged the winner with a decisive 1,88,000 votes.

Mard was Amitabh's last collaboration with Desai and released on 1 November 1985. The success of the film was a deserving end to the collaboration that lasted over 8 films, all of which were a perfect blend of Desai's unusual storytelling and Bachchan's larger than life persona and superstardom.\r
A deserving culmination to the Desai-Bachchan partnership, the film incorporated in it all the tropes of a typical bollywood masala film, with the unique touches of Desai's storytelling sensebilities. Bachchan's Raju is found at the orphanage and adopted by a blacksmith couple who then later finds his mother, played by Nirupa Roy and the supposedly dead father, Azad Singh. The animals also make an appearance playing pivitol roles in the cilmax of the film in the figure of Raju's trusted horse and Moti the dog.

In 1987, V. P. Singh, the then Defence Minister of the Rajiv Gandhi government had appointed an American detective agency Fairfax, to investigate the illegal stashing of foreign exchange in overseas banks by Indians. This investigation brought forward the name of Ajitabh Bachchan, Amitabh's brother. Ajitabh sued the Swedish newspaper for defamation charges and won damages in the United Kingdom in 1990.\r
The Bofors Scandal of 1987 between India and Sweden, brouught accusations of several politicans receiving kickbacks from the arms manufacturing company Bofors AB, including Amitabh Bachchan. In lieu of the controversy Bachchan resigned from his seat in August 1987, never to return to politics again.\r
The controversy had also affected the star's screen image as his popularity hit an all time low.

Prakash Mehra's last film with Amitabh, Jaadugar, released on 25 August 1989, close on the heels of Toofan. Both the films had Bachchan in the role of a magician. The similarity in the plot and a poorly done climax for Mehra's film led to the failure of both the films. Bachchan was also berated for not informing the producers and directors of both his films about the similarities in the two characters portrayed by him. This caused a fallout between Mehra and Bachchan, who did not collaborate in any films after this.

Mukul S. Anand 1990 directorial Agneepath had Bachchan play the character of Vijay Dinanath Chauhan; a young man on the path of vengeance from the local underworld don Kaancha Cheena for his father's death. The title of the film was inspired from the poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan's famous poem Agneepath, likely published in mid 1970s, and is referenced all over the course of the film. Anand brings in the similar sensibilities in showcasing Bachchan in a character reminiscent of his collaborations with the 70s greats such as Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra and Ramesh Sippy. He fills the film with homage to the Bachchan mythology and all the tropes that have gone into the making of Big B's superstar persona riding on the success of his 1970s cinematic touchstones.\r
In an interview Bachchan claimed that “I had taken great effort to alter my voice for the character but the initial feedback to the altered voice was negative, and the distributors panicked so I had to overnight redub the entire film in my original voice. But later, wherever I travelled for my shows, I was always requested to speak in the Agneepath voice.”

Kimi Katkar was the new generation replacement for his earlier Westernized heroines like Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi. The film was a super hit and Kimi could have been a major star but she got married to photographer Shantanu Shorey and quit films.\r
The chart-topper Jumma chumma de de re-invented Bachchan as sexy even at 50. The song resurrected singer Sudesh Bhosle but also limited his career. For a long time he remained just Bachchan's voice until both Bachchan and he sought to find different alter egos. \r
Few people know that this Laxmikant-Pyarelal composition was based on a Mory Kante African number brought by Amitabh to the music composers\r
A one of its kind concert, Jumma Chumma, was launched with music composers Kalyanji-Anandji and had stars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Neelam and Anupam Kher among others. Jumma Chumma released on 10 May 1991 in London.

Sudesh Bhosle who gave playback to all Amitabh songs in this film was introduced to Amitabh Bachchan by Shashi Kapoor at the recording. Amitabh recommended Sudesh to Romesh Sharma, producer of Hum and it was a co-incidence that Hum was released before Ajooba.\r
It is said that producer-director Shashi Kapoor was keen that Raj Kapoor (who had done a cameo in the song John Jani Janardhan in Naseeb with Amitabh) play the role of Amitabh's father but Raj Kapoor could not do it due to ill health, so Shammi Kapoor stepped in. \r
Ajooba was also Bachchan's first film with Dimple Kapadia.

Khuda Gawah marked an important curve in Amitabh Bachchan's career. It was the last of his trilogy with director Mukul S. Anand. There is an interesting story behind his character. It is said that many years ago, Bachchan was very moved by the character of Balraj Sahni in Kabuliwallah. Later, while shooting Zanjeer, he was as attracted by the character of Pran and determined that some day he would play a Pathan in his film. \r
The film was shot in Afghanistan, which would be an impossibility today. After Kamal Haasan, Rajnikanth and Aravind Swamy who played the lead in Bachchan's home production Saat Rang Ke Sapne, this was yet another film with a southern co-star, Nagarjuna. After the film, Bachchan took a 5-year sabbatical from films.

Amitabh Bachchan launched his dream venture ABCL (Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited) merged with Jaya Bachchan's Saraswati Audiovisuals, which had previously produced the Hindi sitcom Dekh Bhai Dekh. The company diversified into film distribution, film production, music and other music events. The music label named Big B! distributed the music of Mani Ratnam's Bombay (1995) and Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen (1996).\r
Tere Mere Sapne released in 1996 marked ABCL's entry into Hindi film production. The film, including several newcomers, was declared a huge hit. The same year the company held the Miss World pageant in Bangalore on 23 November 1996. Getting the event to India was a huge task and it put the company in a lot of financial trouble. \r
Bachchan made his comeback to the film screens with the 1997 film Mrityudaata, proiduced under the ABCL banner.

ABCL's next production was Bachchan starrer Major Saab, which too failed to perform well at the box-office The only success that year for Bachchan as an actor was David Dhawan's Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan, alongside Govinda. The film was a superhit and redeemed the actor's standing at the box-office to a certain extent. \r
Recurring major financial losses due to failed production ventures ABCL approached the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) in March 1999.

Amitabh Bachchan reunited with the Yash Raj Films banner after 19 years, their last collaboration being Silsila (1981), for Mohabbatein directed by Aditya Chopra. Cast as the strict disciplinarian principal of the Gurukal Academy, Bachchan's portrayal was widely acclaimed providing a new path to the actor's career, now as a supporting but strong character presence in films. \r
Amitabh Bachchan in an interview mentioned, "I was on a long sabbatical and unable to decide what roles I should pick. Then one morning after a lot of deliberation I walked across to Yash Chopra's house and told him that I didn't have work and needed a job. he offered me this film." The film proved to be a game changer for the actor and possibly the start of a new innings of his acting career.

The year also marked Bachchan's entry to television with the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati?, the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The show debuted on the television screens on 3 July 2000, turned fortunes for both Star TV, the broadcaster, and Amitabh. The actor has since hosted all the seasons of the show, barring the third season which was hosted by Shah Rukh Khan. The show catapulled Bachchan to household popularity once again. \r
Bachchan was honoured as Superstar of the Millennium (2000) by Filmfare.

After moderate success with Ek Rishtaa: A Bond of Love and Aks, Bachchan's biggest hit of the year was Karan Johar's family drama, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, released on 14 December 2000. The film boasted an eminent star cast across three generations of a family with Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan reuiniting on screen after a long break, and prominent stars such as Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor. The film became one of the highest grossers of the decade and has accquired a classic status over the years as an icon of pop-culture for the Indian diaspora audience.\r
Bachchan was also awarded with the third-highest civilian honour, presented by the Government of India, the Padma Bhushan in 2001. The same year, he also became the first living Asian to be modelled in wax at Madame Tussauds, London.

The resurgent career of the actor provided him the opportunity of choosing roles with substance without being typecast. In 2002, his films included a stylised thriller Aankhen that had Bachchan playing the role of a vindictive bank manager planning a bank robbery with the help of three blind men. The film retained shades of the angry young man persona of the actor and proved to be a box-office hit. \r
The same year he also sang and appeared in a music video 'Kabhi Nahi' with Adnan Sami, produced by T-Series.

The biggest highlight of the year was Ravi Chopra's Baghban, that paired Amitabh Bachchan with Hema Malini. Cast as the retired bank manager, Bachchan's heartfelt portrayal of an ageing father and his chemistry with Hema Malini touched the audiences heartstrings.\r
Bachchan's character's final speech in the film was penned down by writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar and the speech for Salman's character who plays his adoptive son was written by Salim Khan. It was considered as the last unofficial collaboration of the legendary duo Salim-Javed, who were creators of some of Bachchan's most iconic on-screen characters.

Amitabh Bachchan got linked to politics again after a gap of 15+ years after his wife Jaya Bachchan was elected as the Member of Rajya Sabha from the Samajwadi Party. Acclaimed politician and friend, Amar Singh belonging to the Samajwadi Party had helped the actor during the faliure of his production house ABCL (Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited). Bachchan appeared in advertisements and political campaigns of the party.

Amitabh Bachchan and Yash Chopra collaborated again after a long gap of 23 years for the Chopra directorial Veer Zara. The hit pair of Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini, after the success of Baghban released in the previous year, were cast in a special appearence as the guardians of Veer (character played by Shah Rukh Khan). Bachchan's portrayl as Chaudhary Sumer Singh was highly appreciated and so was his chemistry with Hema Malini. This would be the last collaboration between Chopra, who had limited his directorial ventures, and Bachchan, before the former's demise in 2012.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black had Bachchan play the role of 'Debraj Sahai' an unconventional teacher to the deaf-blind girl Michelle McNally (portrayed by Rani Mukherjee). A review in IANS mentioned that "'The film actually belongs to Amitabh Bachchan. It's impossible to imagine any actor playing Debraj, the tutor of manic proportions raging into the darkness like a Shakespearean tragic hero. To say this is Bachchan's finest ever isn't enough. For, what he has done with his character in Black is to endow Indian cinema with a flavour of flamboyant excellence, unparalleled by anything we've seen any actor from any part of the world do or say … I say 'say' because the way Bachchan has used that well known baritone, has to be heard to be believed. Dropping his voice to a whisper, he raises it again to challenge destiny, and toast immortality."

Amitabh collaborated with his son twice in the year, first in Shaad Ali directorial Bunty Aur Babli with Abhishekh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee in the titural roles respectively. The duo were seen again playing father and son in the Ram Gopal Verma political drama Sarkar, loosely inspired from the 1972 Francis Ford Cappola's film The Godfather, which itself is based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo. \r
Karan Johar directorial Kabhi Alvida Na Kehnaa, had Amitabh and Abhishek playing father-son duo again in 2006. Amitabh was also conferred an honorary Docrorate of Arts by De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, for his contribution to the Indian film industry.

In 2007 Amitabh starred in two films touching upon highly unconventional topics in Hindi cinema. Directed by Ram Gopal Verma, Nishabd released on 2 March 2007, exploring the complex relationship between a married middle-aged man and his daughter's friend. Inspired by Valdimir Nabokov's Lolita, Amitabh played the role of a 60+ photographer who falls in love with an 18 year old girl played by Jiah Khan. The film garnered extreme response from the critics with some hailing it as an extraordinary film while others panning the subject brutally.\r
His next release of the year was R. Balki's Cheeni Kum starring him and Tabu. Yet another unusual romance the film showcased the story of a 64 year old chef Buddhadev Gupta falling for the 34 year old software engineer Nina Verma. The film did well at the box-office and the sparkling chemistry between Bachchan and Tabu was highly praised.

Ram Gopal Verma and Amitabh collaborated again in 2007 for the film titled Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag, a remake of the actor's own blockbuster Sholay. The film was an absolute disaster with Amitabh in the role of the gangster, it is hailed as the most universally panned remake ever! \r
In a later interview director Ram Gopal Varma stated that “When I was making RGV Ki Aag, if someone had asked me, 'Will it be as good as Satya?' I was just trying to do a gimmicky version of Sholay. If someone had seriously asked me that question, I'm not sure I would have been able to answer.”

Amitabh starred in Rituparno Ghosh's The Last Lear which is considered as one of his best performances ever by many. The film had its international premier at the Toronto Film Festival on 9 September 2007 and was released worldwide a year later on 12 September 2008. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English that year.

R. Balki directorial Paa, had Bachchan playing arguably one of his most challenging roles. Dealing with a complex father-son relationship, Paa reversed the real life roles of Amitabh and Abhishek. Amitabh played the role of Abhishek's son Auro, suffering from a rare gentic condition caller progeria. The role won him his second National Award for Best Actor that year.

Amitabh starred in his first Hollywood film, and his only one to date, The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann. Amitabh received a lot of praise for his performance as Meyer Wolfsheim.\r
He also received the Global Diversity Award from the British Parliament in the same year.\r
Yudh directed by Ribhu Dasgupta was Bachchan's debut on TV screen as an actor. Released on 14 July 2014, the limited series had a star cast which included Sarika, Zakir Husain, Mona Vasu, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Kay Kay Menon, Kanika Dang and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

By the mid to late 2010s, Bachchan, the stalwart of the Indian film industry completed his five-decade run in the Indian film industry with a career that saw the biggest of highs to the lowest of lows, with him being possibly the only superstar to have seamlessly transitioned to age-appropriate roles. From 2015-2018 he collaborated thrice with director Shoojit Sarkas, with each bringing out a different aspect of the actor's work. 2015 film Piku had him play an eccentric yet doting Bengali father to Deepika Padukone. The 2016 courtroom drama had him as a lawyer who returns for one last battle to defend the three women who find themselves at the receiving end of male ire and social prejudices. The 2020 film Gulabo Sitabo became the first Amitabh Bachchan film to be released directly on a streaming platform skipping theatrical release, in the wake of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

In the year 2022, Amitabh was credited for 8 films of which two were guest roles (Fakt Mahilao Maate and Chup: Revenge of the Artist) and one film as the narrator (Radhe Shyam).

Amitabh's latest release is the Nag Ashwin directorial Kalki 2898 AD. A post-apocalyptic film set in the year 2898 AD, the film is inspired from Hindu scriptures with Bachchan portraying the role of Ashwatthama (the mythological son of sage warrior Dronacharya and an ally to the Kauravas during the battle of Mahabharatha).\r
Bachchan, now past 80 years of age, is wildely regarded as one of the most influential actors of Indian Cinema and a cultural icon, working actively in films and television.