The Big B's Birthday

Ali Peter John attends a media gathering to celebrate Amitabh Bachchan’s 74th birthday, a festival in its own right.

As I battled with the tough security guards outside ‘Janak’, Amitabh Bachchan’s office, telling them that I knew the Big B from years ago, I thought of those other birthdays celebrated by him, when the large doors of ‘Prateeksha’ were thrown open to anyone who wanted to wish him. He used to receive every guest personally even as his parents, Dr. Harivanshrai Bachchan and Mrs. Teji Bachchan also made the occasion special by making everyone comfortable. The table was laid out with a number of rare delicacies and the phones (landlines then) kept ringing continuously while Amitabh attended to as many calls possible. It was a birthday without hassles and nobody, including me, thought twice before deciding to go wish him. Celebrated like a festival all over the country, it was known as a quiet celebration!

This time though, it was my friend’s persistence that made me stay on at the gate. Mr Bachchan had invited a huge gathering of the media who were also in a celebratory mood, behaving like excited children when they saw him.

Finally, a young man opened the gate and let us in and I was taken aback, if not scared with the whole atmosphere.