A 70-foot painting from Allahabad fan for Amitabh Bachchan's 70th birthday

Highlights

• Even as actress Jaya Bachchan lines up a slew of events, gifts and surprises for husband and megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who turns 70 on Thursday, a young fan of Big B is working tirelessly 24x7 to gift him a "touching and a very big gift".
• Raj Kapoor Chitera, 26, is making a 70-foot oil painting which will show various milestones in Mr Bachchan's personal and professional life.
• Chitera, a resident of Allahabad, has done such work in the past too.
• In his earlier works, he has tried to push the case for implementing the death sentence awarded to Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist after the attack in Mumbai in November 2008 that left 164 people dead.
• He has also taken on the theme of pollution of the Ganga.
• In 2011, he drew a 1,500-foot long painting on Sachin Tendulkar to mark his 38th birthday.
• Chitera told IANS that he was a die-hard fan of Big B, and proud to belong to the city from where the Bachchans trace their roots.
• "Through this humble present, I want to show Amitji how he still is a smashing hit with his fans, all of us Allahabad residents," he says proudly.
• Originally from Ambedkarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, the painter now lives in Allahabad. Producing a large painting for a big occasion is something Chitera is passionate about.
• Chitera says his Big B work will be in oil paint and on a roll of veneer, so that he "can send it to Jalsa (Amitabh Bachchan's residence in Mumbai) later".
• "The painting will have shades of all sorts, you will see a picture of Amitji's bachpan (childhood), his marriage to Jaya Bhaduri and his subsequent successes at the box office," the artist says, adding that the painting too, like a film, would have a story line.
• The films depicted in the painting would include Abhimaan, Shakti, Sholay, Zanjeer, Coolie and Baghban.