Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh's favourite movies are Ganga Jamuna and Pyaasa.

Amitabh's favourite food is Indian vegetarian food.

Amitabh lists his weakness as his family.

Amitabh is fluent in Hindi, English and can also speak a bit of Punjabi.

Amitabh is teetotaller.

On 31 October 2006, Amitabh shocked the unit of the movie Shootout at Lokhandwala by recording 23 scenes in 5 hours.

Amitabh despises the word Bollywood, the word that describes the Hindi film industry.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra wanted Amitabh to play the lead role of Inspector Inayat Khan in Mission Kashmir in 2000. The reason why he declined the role was because of his commitment to Yash Chopra's Mohabbatein.

Kader Khan wanted to direct Amitabh as the lead hero in Jaahil, unfortunately the movie was never made.

Amitabh was closely associated with Indira Gandhi, the former Indian Prime Minister, and her son, Rajiv Gandhi. It was Mrs. Gandhi who wrote a letter of introduction for Amitabh, and that's how he got his break in Bollywood.

Amitabh was the original choice to play a role in Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai in 2003, which he declined and was finally played by Om Puri.

In 1977, although Amitabh's Immaan Dharam proved to be a disaster, the producer went ahead and announced Asmaan with Dharmendra, Amitabh and Rekha, with Mohan Kumar in the director's seat. Salim-Javed, who had penned the script of Immaan Dharam, were scripting Asmaan as well. However, the film was shelved.

Amitabh has played double and triple roles in a number of films. His double roles include Adalat, Don, Kasme Vaade, The Great Gambler, Bemisaal, Desh Premee, Satte Pe Satta, Aakhree Raasta, Toofan, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Lal Baadshah and Sooryavansham. Mahaan, in 1983 saw him play in a triple role.

Amitabh's survival and his success could in short be termed best in his wife's own words that "Amit ji is a loner!"

Amitabh is the only actor who achieved at least one hit every year for 15 consecutive years - from 1972 in Bombay to Goa to 1986 in Aakhree Raasta.

Prakash Mehra was planning on making Chankaya Chanddragupta and had signed Amitabh for the main role. The movie was shelved unfortunately.

In 1984, Amitabh was honoured by the Indian government with the Padma Shri Award for his outstanding contribution to the Hindi film industry.

The facial caricature of the Indian comic book character 'Supremo' is based upon Amitabh.

Actress Nirupa Roy is mostly cast as Amitabh's mother and last time she featured was in Lal Baadshah in 1999.

Amitabh works with the Indian government's media campaign to publicise the National Immunization Days and encourage people to take their children to be vaccinated against polio and other deadly diseases.

Amitabh was considered 'finished' in the late nineties after super star status for 20 years, a string of flops and failed political and business ambitions. He made an unexpected comeback as host of the popular TV quiz series Kaun Banega Crorepati? in 2000, which put him right back on the number one spot of Bollywood actors over 40, reaffirming his reputation as the living legend of Indian cinema with a new series of high profile films Mohabbatein, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham etc.

Amitabh, Parveen Babi, Mithun Chakraborty and Rati Agnihotri were teamed in Tala Chabi, produced by Romu Sippy and directed by Raj N. Sippy. One of the foremost character actors then, Pran, had been signed to enact the main villain's role. An official announcement was made in April 1982 and the movie never took off.

In 1976, Amitabh was to star in Manoj Kumar's Naya Bharat. The film was shelved subsequently.

Following a near fatal accident while shooting Coolie in 1983, during which Amitabh suffered internal bleeding and required 17 bottles of blood, he became a champion for the cause of encouraging more people to donate blood.

Amitabh suffers from a rare muscular disorder known as myasthenia gravis.

When Amitabh was trying to get a break in movies he was told to soften his 'deep' voice. However it was soon realised that his deep rich voice was excellent for narration. He has since provided narrations for several films.

Amitabh is the highest paid Bollywood actor in the film industry.

Amitabh's favourite screen name is Vijay, which he had as his character name in over 20 movies.

Amitabh's father Harivansh Rai Bachchan was considering naming him 'Inquilab' (which means 'revolution') before deciding for Amitabh which means 'brilliance unlimited'.

On Amitabh's 61st birthday, he relaunched ABCL as AB Corp. ABCL had to be closed after debts of more than millions of rupees. However, Amitabh decided to relaunch it with a name change.

Amitabh suffers from asthma.

In 1996, Amitabh released an album called "Aby Baby". This album was released under ABCL and featured songs like "Eer Bir Phatte" and remixes of his songs from his early movies O Saathi Re and Kabhi Kabhi. "Eer Bir Phatte" was inspired by one of his famous dialogues in his movie Adalat.

At the age of 58, Amitabh jumped from a height of 30 feet, along with co-star Manoj Bajpai, for his 2001 movie Aks.

Amitabh has a double M.A. (Master of Arts) degree.

Amitabh formed a popular screen couple with Rekha.

Amitabh has sung in many movies such as Laawaris, Toofan and Silsila.

Amitabh became a grandfather in 1997, when his daughter Shweta gave birth to a baby daughter, Navya Naveli Nanda.

Amitabh was the first Asian actor to have a wax model of his likeness displayed at Madame Tussaud's in London.

Amitabh attended Kirori Mal College.

Amitabh was a stage actor, radio announcer and freight company executive in Calcutta, India during his career.

Amitabh had a very close association with the former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi (also Prime Minister) and was elected to parliament with a huge majority from his home town of Allahabad. Unfortunately, his stint in politics did not last long and he was implicated in the infamous Swedish Bofors Gun deal scandal along with Rajiv Gandhi and others.

Amitabh launched a multi-faceted commercial enterprise known as 'Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited', or ABCL. The corporation is engaged in production, distribution and all other aspects of the movie industry.

Amitabh is a vegetarian

Amitabh almost died from an accident during the filming of Coolie, although details of the accident remain sketchy. He was hospitalised and the Indian press issued daily bulletins on his health.

Amitabh won Best supporting actor for the following films: - Anand in year 1972 - Namak Haram in year 1974 - Mohabbatein in year 2000

Amitabh finished his studies at Delhi University.

Amitabh attended went to Sherwood College, a boarding school in the hill-station town of Nainital, and from there to Delhi University where he earned a double MA degree.

Amitabh was referred to as the "Angry Young Man" in India during the 1970s.

Amitabh and Jaya's son, Abhishek, is also an actor. Amitabh and Jaya want Abhishek to marry soon and the family consulted an astrologer and compared the astrological charts of former Miss World and Bollywood actress, Aishwarya Rai, with that of Abhishek, hoping that they are compatible for marriage.

Amitabh and wife, actress Jaya Bhaduri, have two children, Shweta and Abhishek.

In 2000, Amitabh found more success when he won the role of presenting the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, called Kaun Banega Crorepati?.

In 2001, Amitabh was awarded the 'Padma Bhushan' for his outstanding contributions to Indian cinema.

In 1999, Amitabh was voted the ' of the Millennium' in a poll conducted by the BBC. He defeated stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Robert De Niro.

On October 30, 2005, Amitabh recorded a Public Service Announcement for the Global HIV/AIDS Campaign on behalf of UNICEF. As part of this service, he also met with HIV-infected children.

Amitabh was a judge for the 1995 Miss World beauty pageant.

Amitabh has been married to Jaya Bhaduri since June 3rd, 1973. They share two children together.

Amitabh is the son of Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan.

On April 14, 2005, Amitabh was appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and focused on polio eradication and HIV/AIDS.