In most westernised cultures with high life expectancy, 65 is the designated retirement age. Today, Amitabh Bachchan turns 65 but shows no sign of hitting the brakes, hanging up his shoes and settling into a well-upholstered reclining rocker. Amitabh has already had four major releases this year (Eklavya, Nishabd, Cheeni Kum and RGV Ki Aag ) and while he has witnessed some major (almost seismic) flops in 2007, he has also hit his stride with one ground-breaking success Cheeni Kum which managed to sell to a youth-fixated audience the love story of a man in his 60s.

Like his chef in Cheeni Kum, Amitabh gives you the feeling that he is just on the threshold of a new beginning. Age, he has proved conclusively, is just a number. At 65, Amitabh is in a unique position. After playing the villain in RGV Ki Aag, he is now doing his first full-fledged English film in an Indian context — Rituparno Ghosh’s The Last Lear, which created quited a buzz at the recent Toronto Film Festival.

After hitting the jackpot with Cheeni Kum director R Balki, Amitabh is also willing to collaborate with new-age directors like Leena Bajaj (Teen Patti), Sujoy Ghosh (Alladin) and Shoojit Sarkar (Johnny Walker). Plus, he is revisiting more mainstream territory in Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar Raj and playing the grandfatherly pivot in Ravi Chopra’s Bhootnath.

There’s more — exciting international projects like Mira Nair’s Shantaram and Deepa Mehta’s Kamagata Maru are jostling for space in the senior citizen’s diary.

Amitabh is quite a pioneer — a busybee superstar at 65. Never before have we seen a grand old man of Bollywood so active and so flooded with varied offers for films, TV shows and, of course, endorsements.

The extraordinary life and times of AB begs comparison with some other major actors in their 60s...

Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar turned 65 in 1987 but had no release that year. However, he had just delivered one hit (Karma) and one flop (Dharam Adhikari) in 1986. By that stage, the thespian was neither busy nor constantly in the public eye, but he continued to be venerated as a veteran whose presence still had the ability to make a difference to a film.

Raj Kapoor

Raj Kapoor breathed his last six months short of his 64th birthday. His last acting assignments had been a good six years prior to his death (the inconsequential Gopichand Jasoos and Vakil Babu). RK’s days as an actor were clearly behind him and he was concentrating on his directorial career and planning Henna when he died in 1988.

Dev Anand

Dev Anand turned 65 in 1988 riding four flops in a row as actor-director — a saga that could be repeated every year till he turns 105 — and was working on Sachhe Ka Bol Bala.

Shammi Kapoor

Shammi Kapoor had started doing character roles while still in his mid-40s (Zameer in 1975) and by the time he was 65, he was doing cameos that demanded his stentorian voice and stern visage in films like Prem Granth.

Rajendra Kumar

Rajendra Kumar had long put his matinee idol days behind him when he turned 65 in the early 90s. The last film of his career, Phool, was released around this stage of his life where he played a supporting role to son Kumar Gaurav.

Sunil Dutt

With active politics and social work taking up all his time, Sunil Dutt had bowed out from the big screen in his mid-60s. In fact, when he made his comeback in Munnabhai MBBS as son Sanjay Dutt’s screen father, it was after a 10-year break.

Raj Kumar

Thanks to what he said (“Jaani”) and how he said it (“Jaaaaaaniiiii), this actor remained a box office draw till the end. The gravelly dialogue delivery of Raj Kumar drew in the crowds for Tirangaa, which released when he was 65. But by then Raaj Kumar was more a special act than a mainstream hero.

Dharmendra

The He-man hit the lowest trough in his career in his mid-60s. With no films and no offers, Garam Dharam went ekdum thanda. It is only now, at 72, that he is making up for a lot of lost time with films like Metro, Apne and Johnny Gaddaar.

Manoj Kumar

The sun had well and truly set on the career of the Purab Aur Paschim star by the time he had crossed 65 in 2002.

Shashi Kapoor

Similarly, former heartthrob Shashi Kapoor had piled on those trademark Kapoor kilos and had not done a film for years by the time he turned 65.

Jeetendra

Jeetendra is Amitabh’s contemporary but he has hardly been seen, save for cameos in Mother and daughter Ektaa’s Kucch To Hai. The dancing star is now in the small-screen spotlight as a judge on the dance show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.

Rajesh Khanna

He was born in the same year as Amitabh and rose to stardom long before Babumoshai. But when Rajesh Khanna turns 65 this December, he will be as idle as Amitabh is busy.