Breathless on Bachchan

Cédric Dupire's documentary The Real Superstar is an irreverent, experimental archive of Amitabh Bachchan's life and his stardom

- Tatsam Mukherjee

CÉDRIC Dupire’s The Real Superstar begins with a tall figure entering the frame sporting a red jacket. As he gingerly walks towards the camera, the silhouette reveals the phenomenon called Amitabh Bachchan. The light bouncing off his perfect face; a star is born. This is a scene from one of Bachchan’s lesser-celebrated films, Majboor (1974), which was released during one of the most robust phases of his career. He’d just broken out with Zanjeer a year before, and this would soon be followed by arguably one of the most game-changing years in the history of showbiz—Deewar, Sholay, Chupke Chupke, Mili—all in the calendar year of 1975. And yet, Dupire chooses a relatively low-key film to showcase Bachchan’s larger-than-life screen presence. Such is the beauty of The Real Superstar—an irreverent, experimental archive of Bachchan’s life.

Recently showcased at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024, many cinephiles wandered into a late-evening screening of the documentary, unsure about what to expect. Most of them showed up probably because of the instantly recognisable face on the poster: Bachchan in his costume from Ajooba (1990), with a foreigner’s name printed beside it. The veteran actor’s face appears practically in every minute of the film, but this is Dupire’s film through and through. He uses scenes from Bachchan’s films to tell us why the star was such a darling of audiences, while also approximating the cost of Bachchan’s God-like status in India.

While making a documentary on Rajasthan’s folk musicians in 2002, Dupire was introduced to Bollywood (and as a result, Bachchan) in the aftermath of