Bachchan still going strong at 70

Spectacular journey: After four decades, Bachchan still gets top billing on the box-office much to the chagrin of actors half his age.

There was a welcome break from the incessant spotlight on new corruption scams when the entire nation seemed to come together to mark the 70th birthday of its biggest cultural icon.

DAYS before Oct 11 when Amitabh Bachchan, voted in a BBC poll as the star of the millennium, turned 70, everyone seemed to rejoice in the multi-event celebrations. For a moment, wrongs of the political class were forgotten as the print and audio-visual media noted every detail in the journey of Bachchan from a struggling actor in the late 60s to super stardom a few years later.