ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses in detail Amitabh Bachchan’s persona trajectory till the film Pink and argues for the indie spirit of the film as providing the space for the convergence of the earlier personas of Bachchan as moulded by the middle-of-the road and mainstream cinema. Pink is significant among the recent crop of Bachchan films for banking on the subtext of anger, which is intrinsic to his star image. Bachchan’s rise to stardom is attributed by most scholars and critics to the success of his films like Zanjeer and Deewar wherein he played the angry young man. Bachchan’s connection to Bengal is not limited to his illustrious wife and one of the great actresses of Hindi cinema, Jaya Bhaduri, alone. Therefore, with Pink, the paths layered for Bachchan by Salim-Javed and Hrishikesh Mukherjee come together. Bachchan would embody the phallus in countless films, many of which would create box office history both within the sub-continent and in diasporic hubs worldwide.
