Mumbai celebrates Big B's 70th b'day

Thousands of people flocked the roads leading to the seaside suburb Juhu on Thursday, to catch a glimpse of Amitabh Bachchan on his 70th birthday.

Anticipating a huge turnout, the city police had deployed over a hundred personnel, besides traffic police, at the key road junctions in the area.

Locals said Jalsa and Pratiksha, the two bungalows owned by the Bachchan family, were surrounded by hundreds of women and youngsters carrying placards and banners wishing the actor since morning. Some of them even had the actor’s face printed on their dresses.

Describing the scene, D K Joshi, editor of a Hindi newsweekly, said: “ There are bands playing hit songs from his films. Despite the deployment of police personnel, there is madness on the roads. Since morning, hundreds of fans are balancing themselves on road dividers with cameras.”

On Wednesday, the film industry hosted a party for the actor at the Reliance Media Works, Film City, in the far-flung north-western suburb Goregaon. The party, attended by the who’s who of Bollywood, became the talk of the town.

A ‘sweet’ gift

To mark Amitabh Bachchan’s contribution to cinema, the British deputy high commissioner presented a mobile diabetes testing unit to the Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri. The unit, named after the actor, has been used to create awareness on diabetes for several years.
At Worli, a day-long art exhibition titled “B Seventy” was organised. Works of 70 artists from across the world, postulating their perception of the characters played by Bachchan on screen, were displayed.

Animal rights organisation People for Ethical Treatment for Animals (PETA ) also honoured the actor by naming a rescued bullock “VIjay,” his famous screen name.

The anemic bullock, suffering severe infection, was rescued by the voluntary organisation Animal Rahat from the Sangli district.