On Oct 11th, the 60th birthday of the last legend Mr.Amitabh Bachchan, a favorite of millions of Indians (myself included) took place. This article intends to take a look not at Amitabh, but the men who made him. No star is an entity by him, talented and charismatic he might be, he needs a real good director to give him that final push into stardom.

 The director is the Krishna to the star´s Arjun, guiding him and showing the way. Scratch any successful star and you would be sure to find a director behind his/ her success. Rajesh Khanna- Shakti Samanta, Dilip Kumar-Bimal Roy, Dev Anand- Vijay Anand, Govinda-David Dhawan and in Hollywood we had the legendary combinations of John Ford-John Wayne, Billy Wilder-Jack Lemmon to name a few. Amitabh would have been just Amitabh, if it were not for 5 men who built him up. I am no way belittling his talent or charisma, but for a diamond to shine it needs a good cutter and polisher, otherwise it would be just another stone in earth. These 5 men in their own ways were the men responsible for shaping up the early stages of his career and then providing the final thrust into superstardom. The 5 men are Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Prakash Mehra, Manmohan Desai, Yash Chopra and Ramesh Sippy. Of course the contribution of Salim Javed cannot be overlooked, but this article is intended to primarily focus on the directors.

While Prakash Mehra can be rightly credited for making Amitabh a star with Zanjeer, it was Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who bought out the latent talent in Amitabh. He gave Amitabh a plethora of wide diverse roles in as many as 9 films together. Each role different from each other, and yet still some of Amitabh´s best performances. Angst, jealousy, cynicism, pathos, humor, Hrishida extracted every shade of emotion to the fullest extent. The most famous role being that of Babu Moshai in that 1972 classic Anand. As a brooding cynical doctor, Amitabh was an effective counter foil to the full of beans, in love with life, Rajesh Khanna playing the eponymous character. Anand is a classic that deserves to be seen again and again, just for the interaction between these two great actors. On one side you have a cynical doctor, who rails against the fact that he cannot do enough for the poor, while on the other side, you have Anand, who is fated to die, but lives life to the fullest. Anand has a philosophical detachment to life, as explained in that famous dialogue "Zindagi Aur Maut ki Khel mein hum Sab Katputhli Hain". It is Anand´s sheer zest for life that makes Babu Moshai change his outlook towards life.

 These two actors again came together in Namak Haram (1974), which was a trade union version of the Richard Burton-Peter O Toole classic Beckett. Rajesh played the idealistic trade union Beckett to Amitabh´s arrogant, imperious mill owner. Amitabh again excelled as the ruthless factory owner, who is torn between the love for his friend, Rajesh Khanna and his duty as the owner. Another classic from Hrishida was Abhimaan (1973), which itself was a desi version of the Judy Garland-James Mason starrer, A Star is Born. As the insecure, jealous husband, who cannot stand the success of his wife, against his downfall, Amitabh again excelled in this role. Mili in 1975 again saw Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan coming together, this time he as a lonely alcoholic, brooding over an unpleasant past, meeting Jaya playing the eponymous character, who is suffering from a terminal disease. Again as in Anand, it is Jaya´s cheerful attitude, which brings joy into his life. As against these intense roles, Hrishida cast him in a delightful comic turn as the absent minded botany professor who masquerades as a Hindi pandit, in that delightful comedy Chupke Chupke (1976). The other movies from this combination Alaap, Jurmana and Bemisal were not that memorable compared with the above. Hrishida gave the image of an ordinary guy struggling with basic insecurities, to Amitabh.

Prakash Mehra was the one who catapulted Amitabh into stardom with Zanjeer in 1973. The honest cop taking on the villains was played to perfection by Amitabh Bachchan. While there were movies of the hero fighting the bad guys before, what stood out in Zanjeer was Amitabh´s sheer ruthlessness. He has no qualms kicking the villain (Ajit) into water again and again, when he tries coming out. Matter of fact it was Amitabh´s ruthlessness with the bad guys that was unnerving. He would throw them out of a hotel window (Deewar), hammer him to death in an airport (Shakti), throw him into a helicopter blade (Indrajeet), in fact he was a cruel as the bad guys, when it came to hunting them down. The cop in Zanjeer inspired by the Dirty Harry series, cared less for social niceties, he had the belief that criminals were scum and deserved to be treated as such. 

After Zanjeer, Prakash Mehra did a complete U turn in the next starrer Hera Pheri, which was an out and out mad cap entertainer, starring Amitabh and Vinod Khanna as two con men and pals, who become enemies later. Khoon Pasina in 1977 starring Amitabh and Vinod again, was a routine potboiler, which however was a big hit. But one of the most memorable movies of the combination was Muqqadar Ka Sikandar, which was basically a modern day retelling of Devdas, with Rakhee playing the role of Paro and Rekha playing Chandramukhi. Amitabh´s role in this movie had various shades to it, as a young guy who comes up the hard way in life, the person who is misunderstood by the woman he loves, a drunkard who inhabits the kotha. Amitabh´s intensity was in full display in this movie, and ultimately he sacrifices his own life to save the lady he loves (Rakhee), and he sacrifices his love for her, when he learns she loves his best friend (Vinod Khanna) instead. The movie brought out the chemistry between Amitabh and Rekha in this movie, especially in Rekha´s death scene. Released in 1978, this movie was one of the biggest hits of that year. In fact 1978 was a landmark year in Amitabh´s career with 5 of his movies being super hits that year, the others being Don, Trishul, Kasme Vaade and Ganga Ki Saugandh.

The next movie Laawaris (1981) from this combination had Amitabh playing the illegal son of Amjad Khan. Unlike Trishul however Amitabh is unaware of this fact till the end, while though Amjad knows of the fact, he refuses to acknowledge him. This movie was however more famous for Amitabh´s hijra act in the song Mere Angne Mein. While many industry folks criticized Amitabh for cheapening himself, nevertheless it must be said, that the song never appeared vulgar.

Namak Halaal in 1982 was a real rip roaring comedy again. This was one of those movies in which Amitabh´s comic talent was in full display again. Be it his attempts to speak English or his trying to swat a fly with a sword or his attempts to retrieve his fallen shoe, Amitabh was simply at his comic best. The English speaking sequence though should rank along with his mirror sequence in Amar Akbar Anthony as two of the greatest comic sequences in Bollywood. Again Amitabh received flak for that erotic rain song with Smita Patil  "Aaj Rapat Jaaye", but again the song was never too vulgar and compared by the standards of some of today´s songs pretty tame. Amitabh and Smita Patil did exhibit a great deal of chemistry in that song though; it´s a pity that they could not act together in more movies.

Sharaabi in 1984 was based on the Dudley Moore comedy Arthur, and if this movie is watch able it is only because of Amitabh. The role of a millionaire drunkard who craves for his father´s attention and ends up falling in love with a poor girl, would have been a mess had it fallen into the hands of a lesser actor. Prakash Mehra´s direction left a lot to be desired, but Amitabh makes you forget that with another brilliant performance. He makes you laugh with his drunken antics, and at the same time you feel pity for him when he craves for his father´s affection. Amitabh simply made the audiences root for Vicky; it´s a pity though that the direction didn´t compliment this brilliant performance. Matter of fact, Prakash Mehra did give Amitabh various shades of roles in his movies, as the angry cop in Zanjeer, the jilted lover in Muqqadar Ka Sikandar, the illegal son in Laawaris, the faithful smooth talking hotel boy in Namak Halaal and the neglected son who takes to drinking in Sharaabi. Their last movie Jaadugar in 1989 was however pathetic and even Amitabh could not salvage this disastrous flick.

If Hrishikesh Mukherjee honed the talent in Amitabh and Prakash Mehra capitalized on his intensity, then the man responsible for turning Amitabh into a box office delight is the master of popcorn entertainment Manmohan Desai. Man gave a break to Amitabh from his intense serious roles, by tapping his comic potential to full extent in that delightful 1977 entertainer Amar Akbar Anthony as the roguish Antony Gonsalves. The duo made many hits together after that, but AAA stands out for the sheer brilliance of Amitabh´s comic performance. Can any one forget that memorable mirror sequence where he has a monologue with his own image? If there is a textbook case of perfect comic timing it has to be this sequence. AAA cast Amitabh in a different mould here instead of the usual intense roles. Another great sequence was where he serenades Parveen Babi for the first time in the church. Most of Man´s movies really didn´t tax your gray cells, they were all of the same formula brothers get separated and meet again, with lots of songs, exotic locations, lavish out of the world settings, but good fun nevertheless. AAA was followed by Parvarish (1977), Suhaag (1980), Naseeb (1981), Desh Preeme (1982), Coolie (1983) and Mard (1984) all big hits one after another. Most of them were multi starrer blockbuster extravaganzas, which safely ensconced Amitabh´s position at the box office. Their last 2 movies Ganga Jamuna Saraswati (1988) and Toofan (1989) however bombed at the box office and that was the end of a real successful partnership.

Another director who bought out the latent talent in Amitabh was Yash Chopra. In contrast to the righteous angry young man roles, Yash often cast Amitabh in roles with a shade of gray. Most of his roles in Yash Chopra movies are extremely complex ones, with shades of gray thrown in. In Deewar (1974), he sleeps around with his girl friend before marriage (taboo in today´s movies), and has no compunction in becoming a gangster. Growing up in poverty makes him bitter and cynical and he cares little about God or society. The only person who matters to him is his mum, who walks out on him when she learns of his illegal activities.

Trishul (1978) saw him as the illegal son of Sanjiv Kumar, who leaves no stone unturned in bringing his father´s business down. He uses Rakhee to achieve his objective and has no qualms in courting his step brother (Shashi Kapoor)´s fiancée to bring the family to ruin. At the same time when he learns that Rakhee was in trouble, he exposes the real culprit in Sanjiv´s office. Trishul was a real classic of a movie and Amit and Sanjiv simply matched each other scene for scene.

Kabhie Kabhie (1976) saw Yash Chopra portray Amit in a different light as a sensitive poet, who is practical enough to tell his lover (Rakhee) to marry another guy, as he is not the right guy for her. He again breaks down on his wife (Waheeda Rehman) when he comes to know she had borne some one out of wedlock. Kabhie Kabhie was indeed bold for its times. Kaala Pathar which was based on Lord Jim saw him as a ship captain who abandons his ship during a storm and is sent to work in the mines as a punishment. Brooding, cynical and angry Amitabh was simply brilliant in the role. In fact most of his roles in Yash Chopra movies were of that of a bitter man with a traumatic past.

 The last movie in which these 2 came together was Silsila (1981), which again dealt with the topic of extra marital affairs. Amitabh marries his brother´s (Shashi Kapoor) widow (Jaya Bachchan), but when he meets his old flame (Rekha), they again resume romancing, though she is also married to Sanjiv Kumar. Silsila tried to capitalize on the real life Amit-Rekha romance but the movie failed to impress the public.

And of course the last but not the least Ramesh Sippy who directed Amitabh in that memorable 1975 blockbuster Sholay. Sholay was packed with brilliant performances, but again Amit stood out with his portrayal of the laid back Jai. His cool casual dialogue, his sardonic humor and the pathos in the death scene stand out. Just observe his brilliant comic timing in the scene where he tries convincing Mausi about his friend or the casual Tumhara Naam Kya Hai Basanti repartee. Sholay was one of Amit´s best performances to date.

 Ramesh Sippy and Amit came again together in Shakti (if you leave out the mediocre Shaan), which also pitted Amitabh against his screen idol Dilip Kumar. It was a real clash of titans with Dilip Kumar as the honest cop versus Amitabh as his way ward son who joins the Mafia. It was a brilliant understated performance by Amitabh again as the way ward son. Unfortunately in spite of brilliant performances and a superb screenplay Shakti joined the long list of deserving movies, which failed at the box office. Ramesh Sippy´s next film was the terrible Akalya in 1991, which made one wonder whether he was the same person behind Sholay and Shakti.

Though in recent times, Amit is working with the newer breed of directors, the contribution of these 5 directors in making a legend can never be ignored. Amitabh Bachchan himself would acknowledge the fact.