Amitabh Bachchan is one of Bollywood's most influential and recognized movie stars. After appearing in many critically-acclaimed movies in the 1970s, Bachchan rose to prominence as Bollywood's resident "angry young man" actor. Bachchan had considerable difficulty in breaking into Bollywood because he wasn't deemed to be "star" material.  He was rejected for being too dark, having a deep voice, and being too tall and skinny. However, a letter of recommendation from Indian Prime Minster Indira Gandhi would give the young actor his break into the industry.

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The Indian actor's career has spanned a fifty-two year career, moving from his roles as an angry young man to more formidable, distinguished older male characters. Bachchan has also narrated many movies, using his distinct, deep baritone voice.

Lakshya, 2014, dir. by Farhan Akhtar (7.9)

Lakshya Movie Starring Amitabh Bachchan Cropped

Amitabh Bachchan co-stars alongside Preity Zinta and Hrithik Roshan in this military coming-of-age movie about a young man who finds himself leading his troops during the Kargil War. The movie is a very melodramatic war drama that ends with the glorious, courageous, and triumphant victory for the Indian troops.

Led by Captain Karan (Hrithik Roshan), the Indian troops brave on to carry out their attacks against the Pakistani troops despite being outnumbered and having lost communication with their base. Captain Sunil Damle (Amitabh Bachchan) is the wise, patriarchal, and loving colonel, an allegory of a strong, victorious 'Father India.'

Abhimaan, 1973, dir. by. Hrishikesh Mukherjee (7.9)

Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan in Abhimaan 1973

Directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, one of Indian's most prolific and influential filmmakers, Abhimaan is a story about a singer (Amitabh Bachchan) whose ego is threatened by his wife's own rising star. Although Mukherjee "discerned a touch of artificiality inherent in the way songs had to come across on the mainstream screen," he based the movie on the life of popular Indian singer, Kishore Kumar, and his wife, Ruma.

The movie is reminiscent of Indian cinema of the time, with its focus on heterosexual love as a love that never fails and the use of tragedy to bring two fated lovers back together.

Bawarchi, 1972, dir. by Hrishikesh Mukherjee (8.0)

Rajesh Khanna as the cook in Bawarchi

Another movie directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Bawarchi is a central movie for understanding the director's work. The director was interested in telling stories about the Indian middle-class, a preoccupation still evident in Indian cinema today. In Bawarchi, Bachchan narrates the story of a household whose new servant transforms the family from dysfunction to a more loving peace.

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The movie plot of a magical, mysterious man transforming a dysfunctional family and ending feuds is another common plot in Indian cinema, as seen in the movie Badhaai Ho Badhaai, starring Shilpa Shetty. 

Pink, 2016, dir. by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury (8.1)

Amitabh Bachchan In Pink

A huge critical and financial success, Pink follows the story of three women who are sexually assaulted by a group of well-connected men, only to then be further harassed by a misogynistic legal system. Bachchan plays the role of a retired lawyer who comes out of retirement to defend the three housemates after the police harass them for coming forward to report their assault and charge them with attempted murder after they act in self-defense.

A movie about women's rights in a country with very regressive views on the issue, Pink was screened to Rajasthan police to "sensitize them towards women."

Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India, 2001, dir. by Ashutosh Gowariker (8.1)

Bhuvan and Gauri laying together in Lagaan

Another movie narrated by Bachchan, Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India is a sports epic about the Indian independent spirit against British colonial rule. Since the release of the epic drama movie, Mother India, in 1957, the farming aesthetic has become a staple used to portray the country's roots, history, and its fortitude. In Lagaan, a village faced with several years of drought must take up a new identity centering around the sport of criket to prove its Indian pride.

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Set in 1893, the movie lovingly creates the popularity of the sport today in India as a defeat against colonial masters: a subjugated class excelling at a show of masculinity against their so-called superiors.

Deewaar, 1975, dir. by Yash Chopra (8.1)

Amitabh Bachchan In Deewaar, as a woman lights his cigar at a bar.

Using the cinematic trope of brothers torn apart on two sides of the law, Deewaar is an epic crime drama that saw critical and financial success upon its release. Number 588 on the 1001 Movies To See Before You Die list, Deewaar begins with two men torn apart by their father's own ill-fate.

Like the plot of Mother India, one brother turns into an angry young man, while the other chooses to become a stereotypical "good guy." Bachchan plays Vijay, a criminal boss seeking his mother's love despite his justifiable—albeit criminal—actions. An anti-hero who dies at the end at the hands of his brother, Vijay finally finds forgiveness as he lays dying in his mother's arms.

Sholay, 1975, dir. by Ramesh Sippy (8.2)

Amitabh Bachchan In Sholay

A cult classic that later on received international fame, Sholay is also considered one of the best Indian films ever made. The action-adventure epic took two years to complete and spanned almost 200 minutes of runtime. The movie borrows elements from Spaghetti Westerns, Samurai cinema, and Indian dacoit movies of the 1940s and 1950s. A rising star at the time, Sholay would be one of the movies, along with Deewaar, to solidify Bachchan's reign as a Bollywood classic actor.

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The movie follows two thieves on the hunt for another criminal for the reward money. It defied Bollywood conventions of the time, leaving romantic dreams behind for the harsh realities of social realism and the working-class in India.

Black, 2005, dir. by Sanjay Leela Bhansali (8.2)

Amitabh Bachchan in Black

Based on Helen Keller's autobiographyThe Story Of My LifeBlack is a story about a deaf-blind woman and her relationship with her alcoholic teacher whose struggle with Alzheimer's disease breaks up their relationship. The teacher, Debraj (Amitabh Bachchan) uses unconventional methods to teach a young disabled girl with behavioral problems named Michelle (Rani Mukerji).

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Later, Michelle moves in with Debraj to attempt to gain her Bachelor's Degree. The movie sees Bachchan's later career as an older man in distinguished roles, and it was a commercial success.

Chupke Chupke, 1976, dir. by Hrishikesh Mukherjee (8.3)

Amitabh Bachchan in Chupke Chupke Cropped

Another Mukherjee -Bachchan movie, Chupke Chupke is a comedy that saw Dhamendra and Bachchan back together on stage after their epic drama, SholayChupke Chupke is a light-hearted movie about a newly-wedded professor who plays an elaborate prank on his wife's family to prove that he is intelligent.

The movie saw a departure of Bachchan as the angry young working-class man stereotype, as, here, he played a university professor who is deeply intellectual, stable, and somewhat boring. The movie uses the colonial contrasts between the imported English language and the indigenous Hindu language as fodder for humor for a multilingual audience.

Anand, 1971, dir. by Hrishikesh Mukherjee (8.4)

Amitabh Bachchan in Anand Cropped

Considered "one of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s best-loved classics," Anand is a tragi-drama about a doctor who treats the poor for free despite struggling to come to terms with the poverty he sees all around him. One of India's most successful directors, Rajkumar Hirani, said of the movie: "There’s no great plot. Right in the first scene you tell the world that Rajesh Khanna is going to die. It defies all logic of filmmaking."

Anand (Rajesh Khanna), despite knowing he has only six months to live, spends his time touching the lives of others around him, including his doctor, Dr. Bhaskar (Amitabh Bachchan).

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