Amitabh Bachchan: from ‘angry young man’ to ‘flirtatious old man’: changing representations of masculinity in Bollywood!

Amitabh Bachchan, voted as the “star of the millennium” by BBC News Online users, has been the demigod of the Indian silver screen for more than three decades and his popularity in the global sphere is no less. His rendition of the “angry young man” in films like Zanjeer and Dewaar in the 70s caught the imagination of a nation whose crumbling dreams during a decade fraught with corruption needed an outlet. Amitabh’s melancholic, brooding and rebellious, ‘one man army,’ and the “voice of "the people" portrayal was accepted, imitated and worshipped by the masses. Heralded as the Shahenshah (Emperor) and Jadugar (Magician) of the silver screen, Amitabh’s masculine representation in films has glorified, over the decades, a range of masculine performances from emotional, violent, sexual, intellectual, and dominant. This paper will examine the changing images of masculinity in contemporary India through the films of Amitabh Bachchan and how the socio-economic and political situation of the nation affects them.