Why I want to be Amitabh

Actor, singer and director Anirudh says that Big B’s real life inspires him to brace for every challenge, and rise after every fall

Yes, I would like to become Amitabh Bachchan. Like millions of actors, I too would like to become him one day.

He is truly the Shehanshah among actors. He excels in emotional scenes, comedy and action. Nobody can beat him in the role of the ‘angry young man’.
After watching his films, everyone walks, talks and behaves likes him. So it is but natural that he is the one I want to emulate.

In that case, if the Almighty offers me an opportunity to switch roles, would I do it? Perhaps no!

Because though I want to be as successful as Big B, to me, success means a life without day-to-day struggles.

In reality, Big B has faced a lot of struggles and obstacles to reach where he is today. We know his life is full of highs and lows. I would like to have all those wonderful highs in my life. But do I want to face those challenges and the lows? I am not sure.

The star’s illustrious father, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, used to say “Jab tak jeevan hai tab tak sangharsh hai” (as long as we live, the struggle remains). This is true because ‘Jab tak sangharsh hai, tab tak jeevan jeevan hai’ (life would have meaning only when struggles remain.)

In his 1975 classic ‘Deewar’, Amitabh says, ‘Main ladhte ladhte thak gaya hoon, ma’ (‘Mom, I am tired of fighting’) unlike the Amitabh in real life, who refuses to give up. This real Amitabh is the person I look up to. I aspire for a life which is not too perfect and boring, but one with challenges. This was explained in a US television series.

What is heaven? ‘A nice place to visit’. This was the title of one of the episodes of ‘Twilight Zone’. It was aired on April 15, 1960. Apparently, the title comes from the saying “A nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.” Why? If it is a nice place then why wouldn’t I want to live there? Is it because too nice is boring? Maybe.

I too feel the same way about life. Maybe I will make mistakes, maybe I will become insecure, impatient and tired, but I will still keep fighting and moving forward. I will be like the real life Amitabh Bachchan.

‘A nice place to visit’

The episode of Twilight Zone goes like this — the protagonist Henry Valentine feels his life is filled only with challenges. As he tries to escape from the cops during a robbery, he is shot dead.

In his afterlife, an elderly man called Pip, who Valentine thinks is his guardian angel, takes him to a place and provides him with all that he desires. Valentine is a sinner in all aspects and yet he believes that if God has decided to grant him heaven who was he to argue.

However after a while, he gets bored of ‘his heaven’ as everything is fulfilled without any challenges. He tells Pip that he wants to go to “the other place”, to which Pip responds, “Heaven? What gave you the idea that you were in heaven, Mr Valentine? This is the other place!”

Shocked Valentine tries to run away but in vain. Pip starts laughing at the sinner’s misery.

A closing narration says, “A scared, angry little man, who never got a break. Now he has everything he’s ever wanted – and he’s going to have to live with it for eternity – in The Twilight Zone.”

Anirudh
(Actor, director and singer)