In the last millennium, only a few of us knew Amitabh Bachchan as a rare actor who could smoothly switch from shudh Hindustani to pure English without a dialogue writer to prompt him. We also saw him as a guy with dry humour, slightly flirtatious, always chivalrous, a man whose caring friendliness came with a dignity where he never crossed the line.

But for a quarter century, the rest of the world has also seen him escort women contestants to the hot seat, stand by with tissues for them, put their soiled tissues in his pocket with a crack about getting to keep what has touched the lips of a woman, and bashfully face their mild flirting where he too is not an unwilling participant. Viewers have also seen his empathy that stops short of being patronising with contestants facing tough times and the amusement with which he handles smart brats spilling over with cheekiness.

There is no other living legend who has hard-earned the status of a figure of authority with the experience, the knowledge and the position to dispense wisdom with spontaneous entertainment and appropriate facial expressions. Kaun Banega Crorepati has brought into people’s homes the Amitabh that only some of us always knew.

I once did a photo session with him where he uninhibitedly showed me how Deepak Samant, his makeup man of several decades, touched up his hair to give it volume. Rajinikanth is the only other actor who sports his real self unabashedly. After the photo session, when I did my interview over the phone with AB and mentioned that I had to file it before going on maternity leave, he paused typically, and remarked, “Gosh, sorry, I hadn’t noticed below the neck.”

In a recent episode of KBC, Amitabh told a young contestant who cribbed about her mother getting her hair cut, that he too didn’t like the girls in his family cutting their hair.

That is true. When Shweta was a schoolgirl and Jaya had got her hair cut while he was shooting in Goa, he’d grumbled, “Kaat diya, itne achche achche, lambe lambe baal.” Among other qualities, he’d fallen in love with Jaya Bhaduri’s long, beautiful hair and
she’s one actress who does not wear her hair short.

He generally likes a woman to also dress like one and wasn’t entirely happy when a young Shweta would wear loose clothes and heavy clogs. Once Shweta emerged svelte and got into smart, slim-fit clothes, he beamed with approval. It’s probably one of the qualities he likes in Aishwarya Rai too, that she dresses like a woman.

Most would envy him his longevity — personally, it’s in his genes and professionally, here’s a little incident that explains how he stays so relevant. Whether in commercial ads, feature films or indeed on KBC, the viewer would have noticed that there’s nary a drop in his enthusiasm.

After 25 years of repeating practically the same rules five times a week and talking about a gold coin, a jar of cow ghee or a range of new cars, it is as if he’s eagerly telling each contestant something he hasn’t said before. I’ve seen actors get complacent with repetition and use “etc., etc.” with impatience. How he keeps alive the enthusiasm of a fresher goes a long way in explaining his staying power.

Recently, I messaged him that one of the answers on KBC was incorrect and wondered how that had happened. He was prompt in replying that he’d have it checked and corrected. In the next 15 minutes, he forwarded an explanation from the KBC team. I had misheard the question and had, therefore, thought the answer was wrong. The mistake was mine, not his. But the readiness to correct himself if he had made a mistake on the show and the speed with which he had it clarified by the team were indicators of how seriously he takes his job.

Don’t envy the birthday boy who turned 83 yesterday. Try matching his uniqueness.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and an author