An Actor’s talent makes him the Master, not age.

I saw Amitabh’s Uunchai today. There is something in Amitabh that makes him so respectable. I have not seen any actor who after retiring as Hero of the movie still commands as much respect as Amitabh does. To me, even today, he is the King of Bollywood. He stopped playing hero roles in 2000 with Mohabbatein after an illustrious 31 years. No other bollywood actor could garner as much visibility as Amitabh does after retirement. Since then, for the past 22 years, he has been the father figure for Bollywood despite the Khans. 

 Amitabh stopped acting as the main hero at age of 58. Did it take away any of his acting prowess? He carried Black, Baghban, Bhootnath, SarkarRaj, Pink, Cheeni Kum entirely on his own. Who said that a retired actor has to beat 100 people at a time or shake legs with young girls for a hit. There are several actors in other film industries in India who, even at 65 places, who with a single hand send a villain hurling in the air 10 feet far away. They dance with actresses who are younger than their daughters and lip kiss actresses who are half their age. Their community people keep producing movies to keep the larger than life image for their caste having upper hand in the eternal war betweens castes in several states for film industry domination. 

They will never accept a fatherly character script i guess even when they are at 70. They are so afraid of losing their relevance that they struggle to do action roles. Their movies are not succeeding at box office yet they refuse to retire. I remember one great actor Sobhanbabu who after retiring early never acted in movies again. When asked why he would not do elderly characters, he said that his fans are addicted to seeing his youthful look. He cannot now expose the wrinkles in his face and disappoint his fans. I respected his response a lot. Amitabh is the only special actor in India who has continued himself in the film industry even after 22 years of retirement. Watching some top stars in roles that demand alacrity, speed and agility which they do not possess being 60+,i can easily predict that those movies would not succeed at box office and sure they are not succeeding but the refusal of these top stars to move onto fatherly roles like Amitabh is not just surprising but also reveals their insecurities for they never could become King of the Industry accepted by all. They want to continue in the industry to retain their family hold on the industry. From each of these families, nearly a dozen heroes have emerged. These scions do not attend any acting classes. They directly launch themselves and claim legacy. 

There are some second generation heroes who till date have not been able to act like their fathers did nor can guarantee success at box office. It is because these actors still believe in flaunting their fathers name in their script even if it's not there in the writer's written script. They still live in their father’s shadow and have not been able to create their own identity still. 53 years as Head of Industry is no joke. Amitabh commands that respect even at his eighty years of age. He has the talent that no one else has in India.