The daily Bachchan overdose

Jayanti Roy 

AMITABH Bachchan, the iconic cine actor, is the unwavering star of Indian cinema and heritage. There is no doubt about the dynamism of his well-earned career image and nobody can undermine the hard struggle he has undergone to create a permanent niche for himself. His charismatic screen presence, rich baritone and spontaneous acting make him the most beloved actor of millions of his fans.

But an overdose of even a good thing is bad. For the last few years, have you noticed how Amitabh Bachchan is being served on the national television platter in innumerable advertisements playing one or the other character. 

The most recent is that of the ‘Swachha Bharat — Use the toilet' campaign. One moment, he is admonishing the villagers to ‘shut the door’, the other he is energetically calling one and all to join the polio vaccine movement and give ‘do boond zindagi ki’ to their children, then he is exhorting coughing patients to find out if they are suffering from tuberculosis and motivating them to have a complete cycle of treatment or encouraging everybody to visit Gujarat as the next tourist destination. Let alone government advertisements, within 15 minutes of TV-watching, you might find him selling incense sticks, fabric, cars, sunglasses, jewelry or chocolates. Sometime back, there was a competition on the net wherein a hefty prize was announced for answering the question ‘How many brands does Amitabh Bachchan endorse’. It might have been a difficult question to answer. 

Advertising, we have been told, is a creative field. Ad gurus have expertise in finding ways vide which they are able to catch the fancy of ordinary citizens and have such a vice grip on their hearts and minds that the clientele has no option but to get up and rush to the market to buy that particular product. However, in this particular case, all that the creative people can think of is using Amitabh Bachchan’s graceful frame and authoritative voice. Most of his appearances are even alike, with him as some authoritative person — a school principal, the wise grandfather, the honorable patriarch. And even if he is a barber or a peon, he is the most knowledgeable person and has the audacity to order you to do certain things. In fact, the ads are not standing out, as they should be. All of them appear to be the same and melt into one another. Sometimes I really forget if he is endorsing refined oil or hair oil. 

I think the problem is also Amitabh Bachchan's daunting personality overpowering the tiny 20-second ads. Therefore when he is acting as a Punjabi shopkeeper or a Kachchi folk, a strict headmaster or a family friend, one is so mesmerised that one fails to register the product. Instead, one watches the actor awestruck and is swept away with his effortless craft and his oh-so-dashing demeanour.

Still creative directors continue thinking non-creatively, dishing out the great AB ads, which though perfection incarnate are still the same old staple.