Main God bol raha hoon

Aabhas Sharma on how the Amitabh Bachchan craze has acquired near-religious intensity.

As a four-year-old, my most vivid memory of watching Sholay was wailing my heart out when the Amitabh Bachchan character dies.

My parents still remind me of how I didn't let them watch the end of the movie as the people in the hall gave them looks that said, "Stop him from crying or get out of the hall." They got out.

It's one thing when a four-year-old starts crying when his hero dies, but somebody turning left-handed just because Amitabh Bachchan is one? That's a bit hard to digest. But then, the craze for Mr Bachchan reaches dizzying heights of madness. Temples have been built in his honour, people have named their children after him, and some have even changed their names to his screen persona Vijay!

The impact Big B has had on people is enormous. Susmita Dasgupta, who has actually done a PhD on the man, says that her relationship with Bachchan has been on the same level as Sanjay Dutt's with Mahatma Gandhi in the movie Lage Raho Munnabhai. Dasgupta has also written a book on the man, Amitabh-Making of a Superstar.

She says, "I chose my subject back when the Bofors scandal had broken out and at that point of time there was no way I could have carried out my thesis." Dasgupta waited and then after a couple of years she sent her thesis to Bachchan and was invited to be a house guest for seven days. "It was a phenomenal experience, I can't describe it in words."

Ashok Sharma, an academician by profession, was famous in Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University as Amitabh Bachchan on campus. "I had a tall build and since my childhood days he was the hero I looked upto." Sharma goes on to add that he is such a big fan that he actually felt haunted by Bachchan.

Aruneshwar Singh Deo, a resident of Bhopal, actually turned left handed after seeing Bachchan killing off goons with a pistol in his left hand.

"At first, people thought I was crazy doing all this but then my adulation for Bachchan Sa'ab goes beyond people's opinion about me." And Ajay "" oops, Amit "" actually pressurised his parents into changing his name from Ajay to Amit. "I wanted the name Amitabh but my parents thought that would have been stretching it a bit!"

Meanwhile, back in Kolkata, the Amitabh Bachchan Fan Association has a temple in his name where, after praying to Lord Ganesh, people turn to pray before Amitabh Bachchan. "A person who has touched so many lives, can he be any less than a god?" asks SinghDeo.

Sharma says that more than being a Bachchan-fanatic, he looks up to him as an inspiration. "In any field, you won't see anyone excelling and being at the top for nearly 35 years." He corrects himself immediately, "It's 37 years actually. His first movie Saat Hindustani was released in 1969."

Dasgupta says that besides being a die-hard fan, the main motive behind doing her PhD was to see how viewers look at Amitabh Bachchan and how he has affected so many lives.

A tattoo artist says that a fan actually came to him and got a portrait of Bachchan tattooed on his back and had hathkadi (handcuffs) written on his back.

"I pleaded with him but he said that he was such a huge fan and this was his homage to the man." Ashish Singh, sales officer of Bharat Petroleum, actually named his dog Vijay Dinanath Chauhan after being impressed with Bachchan's performance in Agneepath.

"I was just too fascinated by the name and the character and it just kept floating in my head." But what do they call him? "Well, his birth certificate says Vijay Dinanth Chauhan, but we call him Viju."

There are a plethora of fans of Bachchan doing the rounds. Some a bit crazy, some like these. But the epitome of fanaticism would be if someone actually gets "Mera baap chor hai" ala Deewar, tattooed on his forearm! Now that would be something.