‘I’ve come for Bachchan’s birthday, I’m not going back’

Bachchan is the prism of the film world from which all light is refracted.

Bachchanmania visited the star’s Mumbai home on his 60th birthday today. Hundreds of fans stood outside the gate of his bungalow, aching for just one glimpse of their demigod. And many of them had made the pilgrimage at a great personal cost: Rakesh Mishra from Uttar Pradesh quit his job at a rubber factory to be here today. ‘‘I asked for leave but was refused. Since I had to come anyway, I quit my job,’’ he shrugged.

‘‘My family knows that I’m a big fan but they don’t know I’m here,’’ said Rakesh. ‘‘I won’t go back. I’ll look for a job here itself. No one goes hungry in Mumbai,’’ he intoned, sounding uncannily like Bachchan’s angry young man avatar.

Ramesh Chandra alias R K Shahenshah from Bilaspur, who sported a goatee and was clad in a kurta with a list of the star’s films emblazoned on it, didn’t have too much trouble putting aside his work for the journey to Mumbai. ‘‘Because of my love for him, I’m unable to do any proper job. But I do run a small shop,’’ he said.

But the loudest celebrations were from the Bengal Amitabh Bachchan Fans Association which travelled from Kolkata with a life-size wax statue of Bachchan and a painting of Durga. Sushanta Guha, the sculptor, and his assistant Amol Mitra, patiently waited under a tree for a chance to be let inside through the tall gates manned by policemen and security personnel. They had been coming here every year for the last three-four years, they said, and they hoped for a darshan today.

Amitava Guha, another member of the association, had an image of the star dressed as Indra in the film Agnivarsha emblazoned on his kurta. While Raju Chilhal from Solapur, in a goatee and grey safari suit, was carrying a plaque which bore his and Bachchan’s photographs.

Also among the hopefuls was a young mother carrying her two-year-old daughter and a small bouquet. Please let me go in for a minute, Ritu Goel cajoled the security guards. ‘‘Actually, my daughter Rhea wants to meet him.’’