Bachchan is often hailed as the Shahenshah of Bollywood, Sadi Ke Mahanayak (translated as "Greatest actor of the century" in Hindi), Star of the Millennium, or simply Big B.

[11][12] He consistently starred in top–grossing Indian films from the mid-1970s to the 1980s, such as Deewaar, Sholay, Kabhi Kabhie, Hera Pheri, Amar Akbar Anthony, Parvarish, Kasme Vaade, Don, Trishul, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Suhaag, Dostana, Naseeb, Laawaris, Namak Halaal, Andhaa Kaanoon, Coolie, Sharaabi and Mard,[13][14] as well as some of his most acclaimed performances, include Namak Haraam, Abhimaan, Majboor, Mili, Chupke Chupke, Do Anjaane, Kaala Patthar, Shaan, Silsila, Yaarana, Kaalia, Shakti, Aakhree Raasta, Shahenshah and Agneepath.

[30][1] Although his surname was Srivastava, Amitabh's father, who opposed the caste system, had adopted the pen name Bachchan ("child-like" in colloquial Hindi), under which he published all of his works.

[45] His first acting role was as one of the seven protagonists in the film Saat Hindustani,[46] directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and featuring Utpal Dutt, Anwar Ali (brother of comedian Mehmood), Madhu and Jalal Agha.

[56] Salim Khan also introduced Bachchan to director Manmohan Desai with whom he formed a long and successful association, alongside Prakash Mehra and Yash Chopra.

This led to Bachchan being dubbed as the "angry young man", a journalistic catchphrase that became a metaphor for the dormant rage, frustration, restlessness, sense of rebellion and anti-establishment disposition of an entire generation, prevalent in the 1970s.

[63] Later, he played the role of Vikram, once again along with Rajesh Khanna, in the film Namak Haraam, a social drama directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and addressing themes of friendship.

[81] Its soundtrack composed by Khayyam and lyrics written by Sahir Ludhianvi dominated the year-end annual list of Binaca Geetmala and was one of the best-selling Hindi film albums of the 1970s.

He also gave towering performances in Yash Chopra's Trishul and Prakash Mehra's Muqaddar Ka Sikandar both of which earned him further Filmfare Best Actor nominations.

[87] His other releases of 1980, Do Aur Do Paanch and Shaan underperformed with the latter ending its run with average numbers owing to huge costs, but Vijay Anand's Ram Balram alongside Dharmendra was a box office hit.

[90] Bachchan also had two hits, Yaarana and Kaalia and a moderately successful venture Barsaat Ki Ek Raat the same year and received praise for his performance in Yash Chopra's romantic drama Silsila, which attracted considerable attention from the media when it was in production due to its casting.

There were long queues of well-wishing fans outside the hospital where he was recuperating; the public response included prayers in places of worship and offers to sacrifice limbs to save him.

[136][137][138][139] A remake of his biggest hit, Sholay (1975), entitled Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, released in August of that same year and proved to be a major commercial failure in addition to its poor critical reception.

[140] Bachchan was slated to play a supporting role in his first international film, Shantaram, directed by Mira Nair and starring Hollywood actor Johnny Depp in the lead.

"[153] Rachel Saltz wrote for The New York Times, "Piku", an offbeat Hindi comedy, would have you contemplate the intestines and mortality of one Bhashkor Banerji and the actor who plays him, Amitabh Bachchan.

"[155] The Guardian summed up, "Bachchan seizes upon his cranky character part, making Bashkor as garrulously funny in his theories on caste and marriage as his system is backed-up.

In 2016, he appeared in the women-centric courtroom drama film Pink which was highly praised by critics and with an increasingly good word of mouth, was a resounding success at the domestic and overseas box office.

According to Raja Sen of Rediff.com, "Amitabh Bachchan, a retired lawyer with bipolar disorder, takes up cudgels on behalf of the girls, delivering courtroom blows with pugilistic grace.

Bachchan towers through Pink – the way he bellows "et cetera" is alone worth having the heavy-hitter at play—but there are softer moments like one where he appears to have dozed off in court, or where he lays his head by his convalescent wife's bedside and needs his hair ruffled and his conviction validated.

[162] Writing for NDTV, Troy Ribeiro of Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) stated, "Amitabh Bachchan as Deepak Sehgall, the aged defence lawyer, shines as always, in a restrained, but powerful performance.

"[163] Mike McCahill of The Guardian remarked, "Among an electric ensemble, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang give unwavering voice to the girls' struggles; Amitabh Bachchan brings his moral authority to bear as their sole legal ally.

[165] He co-starred with Rishi Kapoor in 102 Not Out, a comedy drama film directed by Umesh Shukla based on a Gujarati play of the same name written by Saumya Joshi.

[170] The following year, he co-starred alongside Ayushmann Khurana in Shoojit Sircar's comedy drama Gulabo Sitabo, which won him Filmfare Award for Best Actor (Critics).

[citation needed] In 2014, he debuted in the fictional Sony Entertainment Television TV series titled Yudh playing the lead role of a businessman battling in both his personal and professional lives.

The reasons for this debacle were films that fared poorly at the box office such as Mrityudata, Major Saab (produced by this organisation), and Miss World 1996 which was organised-managed by ABCL.

[204] In 1987, Indian Express said his brother Ajitabh Bachchan owned an apartment in Switzerland, giving rise to speculations about his involvement in the "Bofors scandal", revealed in the year before.

[231] In 2014, it was announced that he had recorded his voice and lent his image to the Hindi- and English-language versions of the TeachAids software, an international HIV/AIDS prevention education tool developed at Stanford University.

[239] Bachchan has been married to veteran actress and politician Jaya Bhaduri since 3 June 1973, and together they have two children; Shweta, an author, journalist and former model and Abhishek, an actor and producer.

[246] Bachchan is famously rumoured to have had an extramarital affair with actress Rekha from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s after they first acted together in Do Anjaane, and later in the successful films Khoon Pasina, Ganga Ki Saugandh, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Mr. Natwarlal, Suhaag, Ram Balram and ending in Silsila, though they have both denied it.

[257][258][259][260] He inspired many Indian cinema actors, including Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, Akshay Kumar, Pawan Kalyan, Prabhas, Manoj Bajpayee, Ajay Devgn, Mohanlal, Ranveer Singh, Allu Arjun and Yash.