Indian films have dominated the cinema in this country for decades. In the northern city of Kano, where I lived for six years, and in Lagos, since I migrated to the bustling commercial capital of Nigeria in 1973, I noticed how popular Bollywood movies were in the ’60s through the ’70s; and even now, Indian films from Zee World are seen from millions of homes in Nigeria on satellite TV.
In my days, the popular screen stars were, the late Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, the Kapoor brothers, Shami, Shashi, late Sanjeev Kumar, Jeteendra, Hena Malini, Meena Kumari, Helen, and many others.
The subject of this feature, Amitabh Bachchan 79, who emerged in 1969 in his debut film, Saat Hindustani, is now regarded as one of Bollywood’s biggest superstars ever.
Amitabh, real name, Amitabh Srivastava, has featured in over 300 films. Some notable ones are, Dewaar, Sholay, Zanjeer, Adalat, Mohabbatein, and the ones in English, The Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Apart from being a screen hero, Amitabh is a musician, TV Presenter, and voice-over actor.
An imposing figure, he is about 6ft tall, handsome, and polished. He is believed to be worth $450 million dollars and earns an estimated $50 million dollars annually.
The aging superstar has never been to Nigeria where he has a legion of fans like most Indian screen stars.
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