Encyclopaedia Bachchanalia

Now heres a book that draws you to the art of going completely insane over Amitabh Bachchan.

Now heres a book that draws you to the art of going completely insane over Amitabh Bachchan. Actually,it would be unfair to call it a book. Its a mind game. Its a Bachchan fan game. Amitabh Lexicon by Bhawana Somaaya will definitely invite highly polarised reactions divided evenly between those who will read it as a book and are likely to be disappointed and those who will play the Choose your topic game on Bachchan and will be thrilled.

Heres how you play this. Choose a random word from the dictionary. Then find the most memorable scene,related to that word,from Big Bs films. Okay,heres one that I throw at you Wrist. Sure,you can talk about the band on Bachchans wrist in Coolie or Zanjeer. But thats not the game; you have to recall the most memorable and iconic scene that relates to it. Like Bachchan holding Rekhas wrist in the baraat dance after she challenges him with Haath pakad ke dikha. The audience skipped heartbeats in that moment. The undercurrents and insinuations ran like a shock wave and the rest is history. Now,thats what this game is about.

This interesting book is a compilation of ordinary words-best scenes connect from the Bachchan oeuvre spanning over 40 years and 175-plus films.

Heres another word with a few hints for you Cash. Iftekhar flings a bundle of notes across the table to Bachchan,and that line Mein aaj bhi pheke huye paise nahin uthata. Any guesses on the film?

And what would the words Ice,Guitar,Train,Manager,or Palace draw from your memory of Mr B? This book game will make you revisit the best moments and dialogue that only Bachchan could deliver the way he did. Many of these have also been defining moments of Hindi cinema. And several are recounted even today by those who know what it means to be a Bachchan fan.

I consider myself quite a Bachchan fan. But Somaaya beats me hands down. It boggles me how she possibly put together over 2,800 of the best scenes,corresponding to as many key words. Thankfully its an easy read and you can start from any page at any point.

For ease of finding this unusual book,perhaps it should be placed in the dictionary section or in the boardgames section in bookshops. Certainly not fiction. As all Bachchan moments are more real than reality.

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So what could be next? Maybe the moments featured in the book as a video compilation? It would make a nice collectors edition.