We asked our readers whether they thought megastar Amitabh Bachchan was over-exposed, thanks to his umpteen film releases and endorsements.
And readers had a lot to say. Here are some of the posts:
Your Say: Is Amitabh over-exposed?
Amit Pathak: There is no denying that Amitabh is the biggest star who has such a wide and deep impression on mass conciousness. But I sincerely think that he is not over exposed.
How does one define overexposure?? If the audience has too much of the same thing again and again and gets tired of the same old fare and loses interest. They switch channels , stop going to the movies of the "overexposed" star. And thus begins the slide.
In my opinion, in mass media there is no such thing as over exposure. Stars are created in our mind and what we call a star is actually a larger than life image of a person, that is created in our minds. So Amitabh the star does not reside in his Bombay home, but he resides in your and my imagination. And repetion is an essential component of creating a strong image.
The question is how did the image get there?? How did his image acheive that level of preemminence ?? How did the image have such a long life??
Okay compare Amitabh with other successful actors to make a meaningful comparison. Anil Kapoor was a really big draw in late 80's and early 90's. Now his image is hardly the same....Mithun was a big star once upon a time, but look at how he has evolved...doing crazy fare for petty directors and with production ethics which are a slur on the performer he actually is..
Why did these stars fade over time...all stars fade...Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna, Dharam paaji.....heroines fade even faster..
Why then has amitabh survived for so long?? Could it be because: *he has consistently delivered good performances.
*he has maintained his physique and appearance in a fantastic manner...remember the adoption of the white beard to go with dark hair
*he has certain divine grace and power of his personality.
*his image is soo big and overwhelming that even if he puts his name to a poor project, the other aspects get neglected but *he gets judged on his own merits. so even if the film does poorly, image of Amitabh the actor (who is amazingly consistently and always delivers) rarely gets besmirched.
Do you guys know that he reads the Gita everyday? Well maybe (I am guessing here) he is soo deeply involved in his work and has such a non-judgemental attitude to it that he does most of whatever comes his way. Does not really worry about the project failing etc. Understands his "Dharma" in life is to pay back the ABCL dues. So he has to make money one way or the other.
His painful experiences of the past (failed ABCorp, failed politics ...etc) can tell us that he is a fairly daring and experimental guy. never really afraid of doing different things...(can you imaging any other top hero doing a TV quiz show before KBC??)
My deepest suspicion about Amitabhs seductiveness is this: his vulnerabilities in public. The fact that he failed so many times in public domain trying hands at things outside of his core strength area (acting) .... this communicated a certain weakness in his personality which is contrary to the so many macho roles that have established him as an actor. Also remember that he is often remembered for roles wherein he dies in the end ...(Deewar, Sholay, Agnipath....etc...) this again communicated a contrast which make people identify with Amitabh.
It is easy to write essays like this about Amitabh. It is always easy to dissect a success story. Who knows tomorrow you may find people dissecting someones failure with equal finnese. But above this all Amitabh the image amitabh the brand survives and grows in amazing ways. Kudos to that !!
Hiren Parmar: Mr Bachchan is an ICON all around the world. he should do movies like Black for which we cant imagine the role without amitabh. he should do different different roles and be very selective.
Ranjeeta Kaur: In every alternate adv ,appears the great BigB. So hard to remember which all products he endorses. Infact one will find it easy to count the products he does NOT endorse. Doing this he is loosing his charm!
People across appreciate adv not on the mere fact that as to who is endorsing it or not ,but mainly on how well the adv is. Few people know the name of the lady who did on old adv of chocolate ,where she breaks all barriers to dance in the cricket field when the player hits a six.But people like that adv. I think BigB should do selected good commercials :)
Tushar G Ghawale: I agree that he is overexposed. He is doing many ads, movies than any other actor in the bollywood at present.
Looking at his age he should minimize his work. People love him as an actor & hence they care for him. But definitely he should not stop playing good roles like he played in Black. At this age Amitabh should be choosy about his work.
Devashis Sahoo: We cannot say he is over exposed. Its people who want him to see him everywhere. Even survey reports says commerical done by Big B get more viewership than any one else. Thats why you can not only see him in movies or commercial adds, but also for adds made for the society like Pulse Polio, HIV Aids, Eye donation etc etc.
Even the voice of Amithab is having so much power that researcher says its almost unique in the world. So a person having so many quality should work for himself, for the nation, for the community and over all for his own satisfaction and benifits for mankind.
Thats why I say, we Indian's cannot see someones presence for a longer period. We need changes in every few years, and if some one stays even if for a good purpose we start gossiping and spreading rumors against him.
Its my request to you, before adding this type of topics to your site, kindly think twice and act.
Alok Singh: I think he is obssessed with films and telivision and he do not have control on them. He has been so generalised that whatever image he had few years back is now all diluting. He should give up the race if he really wants to save his mega star image. Nowdays his over-exposition looks stupid. Apart from it it would be advisable he does few good things for the common people or simply help youngsters brush up their talents.
Notwithstanding, his brand ambassdor status given by UN would only be fruitful when he starts acting for the social cause not much exposed in rubbish movies and ads.
Jaideep Malaviya: Yes certainly. I think at this age of his life he must more concentrate on social issues and those in the interest of the common Indian. Endorsing each and every thing clearly brings out his commercial interest. For e.g. he may endorse Cadbury's Chocolate, but he must also understand that chocolates are no good to children from health point of view.
Prabhakar Lal: Gone are the days when people blindly used to queue at ticket counter to watch Amitabh's movies. His choice of movies just before and after temporary retirement are very much below averages. Some of those well known (?) movies are Toofan, Jaadoogar, Akayla,Lal Badshah, SuryaVanshi.
I am not sure how Amitabh selects a movie but in recent time he has selected many a movies just for the sake of friendships/good relationship and ended up doing miniscule or unimpressive roles in those movies.
We very well know that he started his second innings in movies and ad world just to pay his ABCL debt. As per news reports he has paid the huge sum but still that onslaught is continuing. In the recent times, the flopped Amitabh movies are the ones where he is having just supporting roles eg Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon, Kyun
! Ho Gaya Na, Armaan etc. There may be other reasons for dismal performance of the movie but as Amitabh is part of these flicks, the major responsibilities goes to him. Not so long ago, Amitabh films were termed as best business bet (Used to recover money like SRK movies now a days) but it is no longer true.
It is true that he has reinvented himself in his second innings but this can be attributed to writer-directors who have dreamt of casting Amitabh whole of their life and made well use of one or two opportunity they have got.
I am no way competent to advise AMITABH BACHCHAN but still as film buff I will put my point forward. It is true that we want to see more of him but please take a call when you do a film just out of friendship. Do not over expose yourself in silly made ads.
Nishank Joshi: His movies might not be good, but he ROCKS and how......
also, look at his endorsements, be it the Pappu pass ho gayaa..., (cadbury's), The rin ad , or the absolutely AMAZING BUBBLY Music Video...We all know amitji has what 3-5 year of active work left... the more we see him the better.
Sandeep Krishna: For sure, Amitabh is very much overexposed.
Starting first on this talents, he is definitely the biggest Superstar Bollywood has ever produced.. With his gregarious acting talents and his keen sense of business he has positioned himself as the Biggest Star ever..
Having said that he doesnt really realise that he doesnt need to do an overkill of himself. People will like to watch more of him if there is only that much of Amitabh on screen. Being part of any thing happening in movies and TV is not what does him good.
If he were to do 1-2 movies a year but these should really be worthy of his talents, where he presents something really path breaking, then thats what is making use of his talents. An occassional ad here and there is fine.. to cash in.. but not the way he is doing nowadays.. from Detergents to chawanprash and what not.
I like the way Robert De Niro and Al Pacino take thier careers seriously. Both of them are the best actors of their generation and they realise that. They star is 1-2 movies an year and these are MADLY aniticapated by their fans and the general public alike. Public knows that if a movies claims to star Al Pacino or De Niro, then it HAS to be a quality product and something to really go out and watch.
This is untrue of AB now. He is a part of 7-8 movies an year and 30 ads as well. I dont associate AB with a quality film any longer, it may or may not be.. depending more on other factors nowadays. Even Aamir Khan understands this fact.
I was a bigtime AB fan when i was a kid watching all his films even the duds like Toofan etc with aplomb. But no longer do i care if there is a new relase with AB. It may be such a big dud like Kyun ho gaya na.. where he looks like a cartoon as one of my British friends (who saw this movie inflight) commented.
Sorry to say, but AB has diluted his brand image.
Polash R Bora: At this age, what kind of over exposure are we talking about ? What future glory will over exposure deny him?
For the last few decades he has earned every bit exposure that he is enjoying now. Over exposure, under exposure etc are terms reserved for young gogetters who are yet to reach their primes. Amitabh Bachchan is riding the ever-rising crest of his career. From this point one can go only into the history books as glorious legends, nothing less.
Fajis Khaleel: Ya, we like him very much ,,,,,, and I would like to see him in advertisements as well as films.. but he should be selective in the movies
.
Amitabh Bahuguna: No doubt , Amitabh Bachchan is a great star of this century, with full of talent and attraction. His image of angry young gentleman to TV anchor of kaun banega karorepati is full of excitement and deep knowledge of Indian society. From my childhood to this my major age I always prefer to see movies of Amitabh Bachchan.
The reason of Amitabh Bachchan over exposed is duly commercial. Large Hindi belt who contribute major contribution of fund collection prefers style of Amitabh in his early days. As soon as he grows up he start doing comedy films and start entering the hearts of Common Indian family who generally decide the heroes in India.
Amitabh Bachan good behavior, natural smile and presenting himself a well behaved and edcated man in Indian society strengthen his image.
His early days angry man style and man from fighting one day roti from jamidar have already made him very popular in mass.
Now from last one year one thing is sure he is over exposing himself in advertisement. In my personal opinion it is going to effect his image as artist in large. This is mainly the bad patch he has seen in his company downfall or earning money for bad days. We are listening here and there celibates bad stories when their glory time has gone.
He is a great star but overexposed any thing hamper the item ultimately personality.
Your Say: Is Amitabh over-exposed?