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Investment Lessons from Amitabh Bachchan (Part-1)

I hope you recognize this guy …. He is none other than Mr Amitabh Bachchan who is the star of the millennium. I hope he does not require an introduction any more … Am I right J  Why I took this guy’s example because I can co-relate his problem with common man. He started from dust and had become billionaire and then again became bankrupt ….. again started his new journey at the age of 60 and re-established his acting and money power…


Mr Amitab Bachchan son of Mr Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Teji Bachchan in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh…. Who took birth on 11 October 1942.Since 1969 he is active in cinemas. Actually his good name was Inquilab Rai Bachchan which had a short-lived existence because at the insistence of friends, Blinding Light replaced Revolution and Inquilab became Amitabh.

Amitabh completed his formal education from Kirori Mal College of Delhi with double Master of Arts degrees from Delhi University. After completing his education in the national capital, Bachchan headed eastward to Calcutta to earn his livelihood. His first job was with Shaw Wallace and he later worked as a freight broker for the shipping firm Bird and Co. But considerations of livelihood and a regular pay at the end of the month was no compensation for what the heart desired. By 1968, young Amit had decided to give it all up, because Amitabh Bachchan wanted to spend his life doing what he wanted to do and he wanted to act.

Then the tall 6.3’’ headed towards Bombay .For sometime it seemed his height became hurdle in making his aspiration into reality…Bombay did not embrace its biggest creation to be with open arms. In desperation Amitabh tried to use the one other unique characteristic that he had, his deep baritone. But here too, Bachchan failed. He was rejected by the All India Radio after an audition test.

Bachchan made his film debut in 1969 as a voice narrator in Mrinal Sen's National Award winning film Bhuvan Shome.Thereafter he got his first acting role as one of the seven protagonists in Saat Hindustani,The film was not a big success but Amitab won his first national award as the best newcomer. Anand (1971) followed, where he starred alongside Rajesh Khanna. Bachchan's role as a doctor with a cynical view of life garnered him his first Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award.

But "Zanjeer changed things.His Rise to stardom started from here …..The same here he married Jaya…..

The year 1975 saw the release of Amitabh's two biggest blockbusters till date.
First came Ramesh Sippy's Sholay and when Jai died on screen, the audiences' horrified gasp betrayed the birth sound of a new phenomenon - the birth of Amitabh the superstar.
And then there was Yash Chopra's Deewar. Amitabh is the anti-hero, one who plays a lowly dockyard coolie who has to become rich by any means. Thus the superstar Amitabh was truly on his way to becoming a one-man film industry.


By Now Ever film producer knew that if he cast Mr Bachan then movis was a sure hit!!!!


The show went till 26 July 1982, on this date while filming “Coolie” in the University Campus of Bangalore Bachchan suffered a near fatal intestinal injury during the filming of a fight scene with co-actor Puneet Issar. the corner of the table struck his abdomen, resulting in a splenic rupture from which he lost a significant amount of blood. He required an emergency operation and remained critically ill in hospital for many months, at times close to death. He fought with death and with the blessing of his fan follower recovered and movie release next year.. Due to this incidence the movie  was hit before release itself. For 1983 “Coolie” was highest gross making movie….



In 1984 he took a break from movie and joined politics. He contested Allahabad's seat of 8th Lok Sabha against H. N. Bahuguna, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and won by one of the highest victory margins in general election history (68.2% of the vote).However he resigned from politics 3 years after and naver came back. He described politics as CESSPUL J

A 15-year press ban against Bachchan was imposed during his peak acting years by Stardust and some of the other film magazines. In his defense, Bachchan claimed to have banned the press from entering his sets until late 1989….

Then he was back to acting and started giving his block blusters ..


Then Bachchan Set up ABCL (Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd) which was the main sponsor of the 1996 Miss World beauty pageantBangalore but lost millions. This made Bachchan bankrupt and his company was later declared as a failed company by Indian Industries board with a debt of US$14m. The Bombay high court, in April 1999, restrained Bachchan from selling off his Bombay bungalow 'Prateeksha' and two flats till the pending loan recovery cases of Canara Bank were disposed of. Bachchan had, however, pleaded that he had mortgaged his bungalow to raise funds for his company.

 In the year 2000, when the entire world was celebrating the new century, I was celebrating my disastrous fortune. There were no films, no money, no company, a million legal cases against and the tax authorities had put notice of recovery on my home,” Amitabh Bachchan .

Bachchan explained: “Our friends advised us to close this losing venture and move on but we decided to clear all our debts despite huge losses and re-start the production of films“.It is only my conscience that kept me going,” the legendary actor said. “Many businessmen and financial advisers told me that I should give up ABCL and start a new life. But somewhere I felt that I owe people money. People had put faith in ABCL because of my name. Therefore, I could not let it go easily.”“There was a sword hanging on my head all the time. I spent many sleepless nights. One day, I got up early in the morning and went directly to Yash Chopraji and told him that I was bankrupt. I had no films. My house and a small property in New Delhi were attached. Yashji listened coolly and then offered me a role in his film Mohabattein,”“I then started doing commercials, television and films. And I am happy to say today that I have repaid my entire debt of Rs 90 crore and am starting afresh,” Bachchan said.


Later he accepted in his interviews
I am not a businessman. I never have been. I have problems dealing with money. My entire career has been managed by family members or managers who have looked after my affairs. I am totally ignorant as far as money matters are concerned. For me to suddenly be thrown into this huge corporate ocean without adequate managerial capacity was perhaps the unmaking of the corporation. But I was told that ‘You’re like the brand figure, you don’t have to get into the nitty-gritty of management.’ So, I very diligently kept away from it. What was required was to have an efficient executive team where you have CEOs, VPs etc. Which is what I did. I entrusted them with the job of running the corporation. I am sorry to say, but despite all this talk of professional executives and professionalism in management, this was a terrible example as far as our company was concerned. I trusted them but their feedback, their information was inadequate and false. It led to one disaster after another.

By Now ABCL was down and out and Amitabh became almost Bankrupt…..But he fought back at the age of 58 when people generally retires from Job!!!!!!!

In my next blog I will describe his comeback story…..   J

Disclaimer :
While writing facts and words i have taken from Wiki page and different websites.Hence i don't guaranty the truthfulness of the facts.My writing may be biased because i am a fan of Big B.

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