50 Fun Facts About Amitabh Bachchan

In which city was Amitabh Bachchan born in 1942?

The city is now called Prayagraj, and has an Amitabh Bachchan Road and sports complex.

What was the profession of Amitabh's father, Harivansh Rai Bachchan?

'Bachchan' was his pen name; the family's real surname was Srivastava.

What name were Amitabh's parents originally going to give him?

It means 'Revolution'; the poet Sumitranandan Pant suggested Amitabh instead.

What does the pen name 'Bachchan', adopted by his father, mean in colloquial Hindi?

His father opposed the caste system and dropped the surname Srivastava for his published work.

From which Delhi University institution did Bachchan graduate with a science degree in 1962?

He had been at school at Sherwood College in Nainital.

Which job did Bachchan famously fail to get after an audition in the late 1960s?

The man later celebrated for his baritone was turned down for his voice.

Bachchan's 1969 film debut was as what in Mrinal Sen's Bhuvan Shome?

His first acting role came the same year as one of seven leads in Saat Hindustani.

For which 1971 film opposite Rajesh Khanna did Bachchan win his first Filmfare Award?

He played a doctor with a cynical view of life and took Best Supporting Actor.

Which screenwriting duo insisted Bachchan be cast in Zanjeer (1973)?

Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar conceived the 'angry young man' after several stars turned the role down.

Which nickname did Bachchan's roles in Zanjeer, Deewaar and Trishul earn him?

The phrase became a metaphor for a generation's frustration during the Emergency era.

In which year did Bachchan marry Jaya Bhaduri?

Zanjeer and Abhimaan, both with Jaya, came out around the same time as the wedding.

What was the name of Bachchan's character in Sholay (1975)?

The film became the highest-grossing in Indian history at the time and BBC India's 'Film of the Millennium'.

Who directed Deewaar (1975), with Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor as brothers on opposite sides of the law?

Indiatimes ranks it among the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.

In Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Bachchan played a young poet named what?

The romantic role was a sharp break from his angry-young-man image; Khayyam wrote the hit score.

Which character won Bachchan his first Filmfare Best Actor Award in 1977, in a film about three separated brothers?

Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor played the other two brothers in the year's top-grossing film.

In Don (1978), Bachchan played the gang leader and which look-alike?

The double role won him his second Filmfare Best Actor Award.

How many of Bachchan's six 1978 releases were box office successes?

Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Trishul and Don finished as the year's top three grossers.

In which 1979 film did Bachchan first use his own singing voice for a song?

It earned him nominations for both Best Actor and Best Male Playback Singer.

Bachchan's 1981 Bengali debut Anusandhan was shot simultaneously in Hindi under what title?

The Shakti Samanta thriller ran for over 23 weeks in West Bengal.

On the set of which film did Bachchan suffer a near-fatal injury on 26 July 1982?

A table corner ruptured his spleen during a fight scene with Puneet Issar.

How did director Manmohan Desai respond to Bachchan's 1982 on-set accident?

The character had been written to die; Desai felt it wrong to kill on screen a man who had just cheated death.

With which illness was Bachchan diagnosed in 1984?

It left him pessimistic; before every release he would predict 'Yeh film to flop hogi!'

Which constituency did Bachchan win in the 1984 Lok Sabha election?

He took 68.2 percent of the vote against former UP chief minister H. N. Bahuguna, then resigned in 1987.

Which scandal linked to brother Ajitabh prompted Amitabh Bachchan to quit parliament in 1987?

Ajitabh later won damages from Sweden's Dagens Nyheter over the allegations.

Bachchan won his first National Film Award for Best Actor for playing a Mafia don in which 1990 film?

It came during a stretch of box-office failures before his semi-retirement in 1992.

Bachchan's company ABCL lost millions sponsoring which 1996 event in Bangalore?

The fiasco and lawsuits helped push the company into collapse in 1997.

Which 2000 film, offered after Bachchan went to a director friend asking for work, relaunched his career?

It also marked his first appearance with Shah Rukh Khan.

Kaun Banega Crorepati, first hosted by Bachchan in 2000, is the Indian version of which show?

The fifth season in 2011 broke ratings records and won CNN IBN's Indian of the Year for entertainment.

In Black (2005), Bachchan played an ageing teacher of a girl with which condition?

The Sanjay Leela Bhansali film won him a second National Award for Best Actor.

Sarkar (2005), in which Bachchan starred with son Abhishek, was an adaptation of which Hollywood film?

Sequels Sarkar Raj and Sarkar 3 followed in 2008 and 2017.

In Paa (2009), Bachchan played a 13-year-old with which condition?

The role won him a third National Award and fifth Filmfare Best Actor Award.

Bachchan's Hollywood debut came in which 2013 film?

He played a non-Indian Jewish character opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire.

In Piku (2015), Bachchan played a grumpy father obsessed with what ailment?

The New York Times called the role a shift from Angry Young Man to Cranky Old Man.

In Pink (2016), Bachchan played what kind of professional?

The courtroom drama was a domestic and overseas success.

Which 2018 film reunited Bachchan with Rishi Kapoor after 27 years?

The comedy was based on a Gujarati play of the same name.

Bachchan made his Telugu debut playing Ashwatthama in which 2024 film?

Made for around ₹600 crore, it grossed more than ₹1,000 crore.

Which Satyajit Ray film did Bachchan narrate in 1977?

He also narrated Lagaan in 2001 and the Indian version of March of the Penguins.

How many National Film Awards for Best Actor has Bachchan won, a record?

They came for Agneepath, Black, Paa and Piku.

India's highest cinema honour, awarded to Bachchan in 2018, is named after whom?

He had already received the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.

Which French director called Indian cinema a 'one-man industry' because of Bachchan?

France later made him an Officer of the Legion of Honour in 2007.

In June 2000 Bachchan became the first living Asian to be modelled where?

Further statues followed in New York, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Washington and Delhi.

Bachchan carried the Olympic torch in which city in 2012?

He ran the final leg of the relay in Southwark at the age of 69.

Bachchan was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2002 for which campaign?

In 2017 the WHO also made him an ambassador for hepatitis awareness.

Which actress did Bachchan's son Abhishek marry?

Their daughter is named Aaradhya; Bachchan's daughter Shweta married into the Kapoor-Nanda family.

Which country made Bachchan an Officer of its Legion of Honour in 2007?

France's highest civilian honour joined India's own Padma Shri (1984), Padma Bhushan (2001) and Padma Vibhushan (2015).

Which 2001 Ashutosh Gowariker film did Bachchan narrate?

His baritone has also opened Kahaani, Jodhaa Akbar and the Indian version of March of the Penguins.

In the early 1980s Bachchan lent his likeness to which comic-book superhero?

The series was titled The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan, capitalising on his run of sixteen straight years atop Box Office India's Top Actors list.

Which magazine dubbed Bachchan 'the Undisputed Godfather of Bollywood' in 2003?

Two years later New York's Lincoln Center staged a retrospective calling him 'The Biggest Film Star in the World'.

In 2023 Bachchan gifted his Juhu bungalow Prateeksha to which family member?

Shweta, an author and former model, is married to Nikhil Nanda, a grandson of Raj Kapoor.

In which Indian state is a waterfall named after Bachchan?

Allahabad, his birthplace, has both an Amitabh Bachchan Road and an Amitabh Bachchan Sports Complex.