In his Koffee With Karan episode with son Abhishek, Amitabh Bachchan was lightning fast on one particular rapid-fire question. ?If you were to make your debut again, who would you like as your director?? asked Karan. The answer: Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Had that happened, Bachchan wouldn?t have needed 13 films to be noticed. The coming together of the two big Bs for the bigger B, Black can easily be called the most powerful creative manifestation in Bollywood in recent times. From the large looming figure beside the fountain in the first scene to the dance of ecstasy at the hospital in the last scene, you can?t just help watch every step he takes, every move he makes, every breath he takes?

As a Bachchan fan, and I?m sure there?s one in most Indians, who?s grown up on the Deewars and Sholays, one has learnt to adopt the slogan of one of the first products he ever endorsed: ?Believe in the best.? So when you see the legend reduced to a caricature of himself in back-to-back releases like Boom, Lakshya, Kyun! Ho Gaya Na? you refuse to admit openly but you know deep inside that the Kabhi Kabhie stare is gone, the Namak Halal timing misplaced and the Agneepath anger faded.

It?s not that it?s been all black for Bachchan before Black. He has shown flashes of his old self every time you thought you would give his next film a miss. For every Lal Badshah there has been an Aks, for every Kohram, a Khakee. Just like Zanjeer, which saw the ?angry young man? conquering the flop dozen preceding the Prakash Mehra film, Bachchan has kept pegging away and making the most out of his lifelines.

The disastrous second innings (Mrityudaata, Major Saab, Hindustan Ki Kasam?) was salvaged by the quizmaster act on telly but his performances in the comeback hits, Mohabbatein and Ek Rishta, continued to be mediocre at best. He just wasn?t himself, often relegated to the background as just another actor. Playing second fiddle to the Govindas, Shah Rukh Khans and Akshay Kumars was insult to the injury for the average Bachchan worshipper.

Aks mirrored a magic we had almost stopped hoping for. It did what Agneepath had done 10 years ago, after a spate of disasters like Toofan and Jaadugar. Just like Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, Inspector Manu Verma made us gape ? and heave a sigh of relief. He filled the frames again, and the glare behind those coloured shades was reminiscent of the old B...

Aankhen was a good follow-up, but then again Hum Kisise Kum Nahin and Agni Varsha were unwatchable. Kaante was strictly okay but it was another B, Baghban that took us back in time and space. Salman and Mahima ran around trees but people queued up to watch Bachchan romance Hema on the telephone from a booth. Playing his age, he still remained the romantic hero to pay to watch.

Khakee had its moments. The breaking down at the police station and the asthma fits during the chases gave glimpses of Bachchan the grand angry old man. But the cameos (Lakshya, Hum Kaun Hai, etc) and the patriarchs (Armaan, Deewaar, etc) that followed dipped from bad to worse. The digestive tablet ads made it more indigestible, not to mention the hair oils, batteries and shopping festivals.

But now, Bachchan is back (yet again), with B L A C K!

Yes, the first half belongs to nine-year-old Ayesha Kapur (young Michelle) and the second half to Rani Mukherjee but the film belongs to Amitabh Bachchan. From the frustrated, possessed and extremely verbose alcoholic teacher to the mute, flaccid and helpless Alzheimer?s patient, it is Bachchan the actor at work and not Bachchan the star.

While both Ayesha and Rani have the script to ride on, the open hair and the walking stick to fall back on, Bachchan has just silence as his prop. He demands attention when he speaks but he commands it when he is silent.

Looking at Michelle saying ?ma? and ?pa? for the first time in the garden, watching on proudly as she performs at the party, forgetting his way out of the principal?s room and reacting to Michelle?s request to kiss her ? the eyes, not even in close-up, speak more than the film?s cumulative dialogue board.

Black is, of course, a whole lot more. But for Bachchan devotees, who were almost giving up on their idol, it is about the return of faith.

As his character, Debraj Sahay, says in the film, ?I have never taught the word ?impossible? to my student.?

It?s time for the Bachchan fan club to unlearn it, too?