BIG B:

A STAR AT 30, IN DEBT AT 57

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Amitabh Bachchan's career is the stuff made of film legend and, like all great films, there's a plot twist

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After a rough start with a spate of flops, Big B hit big time as Bollywood's ?Angry Young Man'

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Films like Zanjeer, Deewar, Sholay, Don and Amar Akbar Anthony made him the superstar of superstars

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But not even the Shahenshah was bulletproof ? a slide that started in the Nineties led to an almighty crash

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In 1996, Amitabh Bachchan began his doomed production and event management company ABCL

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ABCL lost money on some films it produced and was reportedly mismanaged by the then CEO Sanjiv Gupta

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It was sunk by the 1996 Miss World pageant in Bengaluru. ABCL, the main sponsor, lost millions

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The next year, ABCL was declared a failed company and Big B was in debt and in danger of losing his home

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His son Abhishek has been candid about the dire straits the Bachchans navigated at the time

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Abhishek quit college, worked as a production boy and made tea on set. He even wrote a rejected script

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Abhishek also revealed that he had no new clothes to wear to the Filmfare Awards as the family were ?being frugal?

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 However, films like Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Major Saab and Mohabbatein revived Big B's career

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His star was resurrected with Kaun Banega Crorepati, which Big B has hosted since 2000 (with a season's break)

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The resurgence in his career allowed Amitabh Bachchan to repay ABCL's debts and he has since reclaimed his pole position in Bollywood

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The Bachchans prevailed ? as for Abhishek, JP Dutta offered him Refugee after that fateful Filmfare Awards

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