Roughly 2000 kms away from Amitabh Bachchan’s Mumbai residence is Kolkata’s Bachchan Dham. In the bustling neighbourhood of Tiljala, fans don’t need to wait hours to get Big B’s darshan. One can see him for two hours, twice every day (morning 10 am to 11 am and evening 5 pm to 7 pm). You have to, of course, discount the shiny mop of hair, a permanently bemused expression and a lurid green GOT-inspired throne. Gods, after all, come with their own eccentricities. And their temples have their own rules.
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At the Bachchan Dham, for instance, you have to remove your shoes when you enter the air-conditioned inner chamber. There, sprawled on his throne, is Bachchan, dressed in a peach-coloured bandhgala, with a rajnigandha garland around his neck.
On @SrBachchan ‘s birthday, his fans in Kolkata celebrate with enthusiasm and perform arti at the temple built in his name…Watch the video! pic.twitter.com/O7Y6QWLxbW
— Indian Express Entertainment 😷 (@ieEntertainment) October 11, 2022
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Today’s special aarti is being performed by a gaggle of greying men in their 50s, dressed in fitted t-shirts with Amitabh’s face emblazoned across it, chanting ‘Jai Shree Amitabh’. An incredulous sight only Kolkata can throw at you.
Fans in Amitabh Bachchan’s Kolkata temple perform aarti. (Photo: Shashi Ghosh)
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As the country celebrates Amitabh Bachchan’s 80th birthday, Kolkata seems to be in a breathless frenzy to prove its love for the enduring superstar. Sanjay Patodia, chief secretary of All Bengal Amitabh Bachchan Fans’ Association, claims Bachchan is an incarnation of Lord Krishna himself. “Duryodhon made the mistake of not recognising Lord Krishna. We will not do the same. He is a god for us,” says Patodia.
For 22 years, the fan association that maintains the temple, has ensured that not a birthday of Bachchan and his family members goes uncelebrated. “We feed people outside the temple, we distribute blankets during the winter,” says Patodia. “This year is special. We will ensure that 80 children and women from economically weak backgrounds are treated to a special lunch. We will give them clothes too. Then we will have special Amitabh Bachchan film screenings at a city multiplex,” says Patodia.
On actor Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday, Kolkata fans offer garlands to his statue in the temple. (Photo: Shashi Ghosh)
Fans cut cake at Amitabh Bachchan’s temple in Kolkata. (Photo: Shashi Ghosh)
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Keya Sarkar, all of 8, is at the temple to celebrate the person who performed the all-important ‘mukhey bhaat’ (rice-feeding) ceremony for her. Apparently, when Bachchan was in town to shoot this 2016 film Teen, Keya’s parents, both die-hard Bachchan fans, took her to the hotel where Bachchan was staying and asked him to perform the ritual which is reserved for maternal uncles in Bengali Hindu households. Bachchan obliged and won himself a fan for life.
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Amitabh Bachchan, who has enjoyed staggering popularity across the country for more than half a century, has a special connection with the city. No Kolkatan will ever let you forget that. Big B himself has mentioned in his blog how he started his professional career as a freight executive in one of Kolkata’s leading managing agencies in the 1960s. He dabbled with the amateur theatre scene of the city too. And he is, as West Bengal’s CM chooses to call him at every public function, ‘Banglar Jamai’ (Bengal’s son-in-law). The fact that Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan’s family, though Bengali, was not based out of the city, doesn’t seem to matter. Bengal’s love for Bachchan is not constricted by such technicalities.
Young fans with a poster of Amitabh Bachchan. (Photo: Shashi Ghosh)
It is not difficult to recognise Sushanta Sarkar, 54, as an Amitabh Bachchan fan. He wears his hair in the same manner that Bachchan used to in the 1970s and 80s — the iconic mid-parting. He has the same swagger.
“God should forgive me because Amitabh Bachchan comes before god for me. Ever since I bunked school to watch Don, I have been a fan. And there are thousands like me in the city. Kolkata loves Bachchan and Bachchan loves Kolkata back,” he sums up.
