Some examples of the anti-Bachchan media at Bachchan’s peak..
I’ve often made the point that the media was anti-Bachchan even at his peak for all kinds of ideological reasons. The two magazine covers here offer classic examples of this. In the strongest phase of Bachchan’s career when everything he touched turned to gold, when he was shattering box office records in unparalleled fashion, before or since, when he was doing all the things that some of the trade talks about in the post right above this, and as he was doing so in what was even by his standards a spectacular period the media was putting up such covers as these two here..
[Jan ’78]
[Feb ’78]
SATYAMSHOT 
November 9, 2009 at 5:57 AM
Great blog u have here! love your articles on my fav superstar Mr Bachchan. Those covers are really anti-bachchan cause if i remember correctly AB had 4 consecutive blockbusters in 1978 and won the best actor award- so how can anyone else be no. 1? Guess certain sides of the media have always had something against AB not just in recent times.
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November 9, 2009 at 10:05 AM
thanks for stopping by..
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November 9, 2009 at 7:37 AM
What a gimmik!.
The guy who has given maximun hits and 5/6 golden jubilees in 1978…..the media must be “BARMY”..
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November 9, 2009 at 9:20 AM
The case is even today, No one was willing to give him his due for 2005 charismatic run at box-office and don’t leave any chance to count the special appearance(JBJ, delhi 6) disasters in his list.
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November 9, 2009 at 10:50 AM
What a joke! Forget the #1 position. Neither of them was #2 either. Dharmendra was #2 in 70’s; first behind Rajesh Khanna and then behind AB. Dharam’s films did open huge especially when he paired with Hema Malini. Other than this pair there was no real competition for AB’s box office supremacy in the 70’s.
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November 9, 2009 at 4:24 PM
Looking at the graphs of Amitabh and Vinod Khanna, I’m tempted to draw parallels with the graphs of Kamal and Rajni at around the same time. Kamal was the bigger star at that time and they were doing films together with Kamal being the lead and Rajni playing the second hero. Rajni managed to charm audiences inspite of having second billing and slowly became a star on his own right. Thats when they stopped doing films together and haven’t since.
Vinod Khanna had 4 big hits in 1977 and 3 of them starred Amitabh. No question about who was the main lead in those 3 movies. Amitabh was obviously the superstar, with Khanna getting noticed in each of those movies for his supporting roles. Khanna similar to Rajni started getting bigger movies and was beginning to look like a serious contender.
And then in 1979, he decided to quit movies to take sanyas. He joined the Osho commune. He took a break of 8 years, arguably his peak years. Once he came back, he was already out of the race and never made it back. Which makes me wonder, had he stayed on and capitalized on his success and opportunity, would we had a bipolar industry ala the South and and would Vinod Khanna have been a star similar to Rajni ?
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November 9, 2009 at 4:52 PM
To be honest Vinod there was no one even in the same stratosphere as Bachchan in those years let alone forming an alternative. And look at it this way — in terms of grosses Bachchan got the same with or without any co-star but Vinod Khanna was nowhere close without Bachchan even in the very biggest non-Bachchan grossers of his career. Desai if you recall gave Rishi the real deal in AAA besides Bachchan and Vinod was relegated to a constant sulk!
Also Vinod Khanna’s moving get releasing at a fairly brisk pace through ’82. He then returned in ’87. The other thing when you look at the historical record is that even though some in the media pumped him over Dharmendra (ironically with only the Bachchan grossers as reference) the fact is that his box office numbers are not even in Dharam’s zone without Bachchan.
Lastly Kamal/Rajni were polar opposites in many ways once both got going. Vinod Khanna never represented such an ‘other’ to Bachchan but leaving this aside it’s never been the Southern paradigm there with ‘couples’ dominating at times and so forth (though Rajni left Kamal in the dust in a box office sense once he really took off). Leaving this aside there really was no second to Bachchan. It was famously asserted that he was everything from 1-10. So it wasn’t that others were not grossing as much but that the entire frame of reference had to be doubled. One for Bachchan, one for everyone else. He was light years ahead of everyone else.
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November 9, 2009 at 5:50 PM
The Indian press has not changed on iota in their shoddy treatment and misrepresentation of Amitabh and his career.
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November 9, 2009 at 6:20 PM
They forget that it’s better to hale him now rather than when he’s gone . Hopefully that is a long long long time away . Nobody’s perfect but they fail to realise that no where in the world has there been a career graph like Bachchan’s . Even the legends of hollywood like Pacino and De Niro have faded away with barely a mention while Bachchan is still doing battle with the younger generation . As well as ganering respect from around the globe , the lack of appreciation for what he represents should actually be quite embarassing to the Indian public . People have got to start standing up and saying enough is enough and if they are unwilling to celebrate his greatness then just let him be . Rather than just keep trying to knock him all the time .
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November 9, 2009 at 6:27 PM
I have meant this in all sincerity whenever I’ve said this but I have never seen a box office graph such as his in any industry I am aware of coupled with all the cultural meaning he represents in every sense (which transcend those of any normal definition of stardom).
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November 10, 2009 at 12:39 AM
Amitabh Bachchan became No1 in 1977.Till then it was about Amitabh or Vinod Khanna.Even in 1976 Hera Pheri both had equal roles.
Dharmedra faded after 1976.He had a dharam veer in 1977 but of no use.
Amar Akbar anthony,Both Bachchan and Vinod had equal roles.But the public saw this as a Bachchan film and that established Bachchan’s superiority over his nearest rival and made him the undisputed No1.
That was in the begining of 1977.
And Bachchan continued his amazing run till 1984.Giving numerous superhits,hits.He was weak after 1984.If vinod khanna stayed on after 1982,there was a possibility to reach the top.Butwe cant be sure.
But the difference between him and bachchan is considerebale though.
While vinod was No2 till 1982.
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November 10, 2009 at 12:51 AM
I think Zanjeer marked the beginning of the Bachchan age which was then cemented with hits and iconic moments on a lesser scale. In ’75 Deewar and Sholay sealed the deal. Bachchan just went from strength to strength after this. Bachchan of course had Kabhi Kabhie in ’76 as well beside hera pheri. But again this isn’t complicated. Just look at Bachchan’s continuous stream of hits and also see what his co-stars do without him. They’re not even in the same galaxy!
On Bachchan after ’84 actually he had the biggest grosser of the year in ’85 with Mard and the third biggest with Geraftaar (more or less ran on his name though Kamal had the central role). In ’86 he just had one release Aakhree Raasta which was again the biggest grosser of the year along with Karma. Then he of course took off for a couple of years in politics.
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November 10, 2009 at 11:57 AM
Same stuff at Mayapuri :
http://bollybusiness.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/is-vinod-khanna-challenge-for-amitabh-bachchan-mayapuri-1978/
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November 10, 2009 at 11:59 AM
yes I’ve seen this cover and was planning to put it up at some point..
let’s translate the line there for those who don’t read the script:
‘Is Vinod Khanna a warning for Amitabh Bachchan’?
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November 10, 2009 at 12:04 PM
I think ‘challenge’ would be more appropriate.
A lot of this magazines took their cues from Stardust which for a period of time did not even refer to Amitabh by name. For them ,everyone including Vikram of Julie fame was a threat to Bachchan.
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November 10, 2009 at 12:07 PM
true on all counts.. and yes ‘challenge’ is the better translation..
Consider this, Abhishek being placed second to every star including me and you (hey we have more fans than he does!) is nothing when one considers the absurdity of Bachchan at his peak being subjected to this sort of media copy.
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November 10, 2009 at 1:38 PM
About this article :
Article is about credentials of some big Hits of Amitabh – Vinod khanna combo like “Hera Pheri” , “Amar Akbar Anthony” , “Parvarish” , “Muqaddar Ka sikandar” etc. Vinod Khanna refused to work with Amitabh when he saw all credits went to amitabh. So this article is about if Vinod can become any challenge to amitabh if he do solo movies. There is reference of Vinod upcoming projects like “Daku Jawan” , “Qurbani”, “lahoo ke do raang”, “Meera” and B.R. Chopra’s Next. These movies were referred to as some projects which can be Huge Hits without amitabh and can be Vinod khanna’s solo success. Article is about this challenge of Vinod khanna to amitabh.
However we all know what happen thereafter: apart from Qurbani all other bombed (BR chopra’s next might be “Burning train” which was also boxoffice Dud).
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November 10, 2009 at 1:40 PM
even Qurbani grossed less than Shaan and Dostana in ’80.
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November 11, 2009 at 4:29 AM
Mayapuri/IBOS connection :
MAYAPURI was first magazine who publish box-office report in last page of magazine and generally they publish percentage of business done in different cities and you will wonder that IBOS figures of old movies tally with Mayapuri percentages atleast, IBOS is crap now for their reporting but their old movies database is very strong and unmatchable, i will publish some sample scans here of some box-office reports of Mayapuri of 70’s, 80’s, 90’s movies, guys these are exactly same as IBOS figures.
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November 10, 2009 at 12:10 PM
I dont know how often Munna visited his barber but may be he has seen this issue of Mayapuri!
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November 10, 2009 at 12:22 PM
LOL!
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November 10, 2009 at 9:46 PM
LOL @ Vinod no.1…hahahahhahahahaa
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November 11, 2009 at 4:08 PM
why the media was jealious from amitabh power.in 1970’s and 1980’s amitabh was on top.therefore,stupid some magzines were jealious from amitabh super power.amitabh is great.thanks for bringing real facts.
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November 13, 2009 at 1:39 AM
LOL, that stardust cover is hilarious.
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August 24, 2012 at 2:49 AM
AMITABH BACHCHAN
BLOCKBUSTER (11)-Zanzeer, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, Deewar, Sholay, Amar Akbar Anthony, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Suhaag, Naseeb, Laawaris, Coolie, Mard.
SUPERHIT (10) -Kabhi Kabhi, Hera Pheri, Parvarish, Kasme Vade, Trishul, Don, Namak Halaal, Mohabbatein, Bunty Aur Babli , Andha Kanoon.
HIT / SEMI-HIT / OVERFLOW(37) – Anand, Abhimaan, Namak Haram, Majboor, Chupke Chupke, Adalat, Khoon Pasina, Mr. Natwarlal, Dostana, Khuddar, Sharabi, Geraftaar, Akhree Raasta, Aaj Ka Arjun, Hum, Baghban, Veer Zara, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum, Waqt – The Race Against Time, Sarkar, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Benaam, Do Anjaane, Ganga Ki Saugandh , Ram Balraam, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat, Yaarana, Kaalia, Satte Pe Satta, Desh Premee, Shahenshah, Nastik, Ek rishta, Kaante, Cheeni Kum, Bhootnath, Paa.
HIT COUNT – 58. (Record by miles)
[Note – Movies which satisfied
both the criteria of being classified as Hit/Superhit verdict in Trade Guide and Overflow or above in Film Information, have been taken into account in the HIT COUNT. There is ambiguity over other successes, for which profits were likely not enough to get a universal trade acknowledgement as Hits.]
—————————————————————————————————————-
Average (29) -Kasauti, Mili, Besharam, Jurmaana, Manzil, Kaala Patthar, Bemisaal, Shaan, Silsila, Shakti, Mahaan, Pukar, Inquilaab, The Great Gambler, Do Aur Do Paanch, Ganga Jamuna Saraswati, Agneepath, Toofan, Khuda Gawah, Major Saab, Hindustan Ki Kasam, Aankhen, Khakee, Dev, Lakshya, Black, Ek Ajnabee, Sarkar Raj, Buddha Hoga Tera Baap.
TOTAL SUCCESS COUNT-87.
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