Amitabh Bachchan before the fame: Bollywood’s greatest star slept rough on a Mumbai bench, was ‘too tall’ for film – and ‘Mr Sexy Baritone’ was even rejected by All India Radio
Star of evergreen classics Sholay, Zanjeer and Deewaar, Amitabh Bachchan has dominated Bollywood since the 1970s, but the film star and Instagram icon’s childhood and early years in the film industry make quite the rags-to-riches story – from being homeless in Mumbai to constant rejection because he was ‘too tall’
But what do you know about his life before Lady Luck touched it? As India’s finest thespian turns 78 on October 11, we look back at his early years and his struggle to break into Mumbai’s Tinseltown.
His parents didn’t have 2 rupees to spare
During an episode of the Hindi television show Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?), which he has hosted for years, Bachchan shared a memory from his childhood years in New Delhi. He wanted to join a cricket club, but his parents couldn’t afford the fee of 2 rupees (0.027 US dollars).
He was homeless in Mumbai