My birthday is not a festival, says Big B

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who turned 74 today, says his birthday is not a "festival" but thanked his fans and well-wishers for their unending and overwhelming love and support over the years.
"My birthday is not a festival. The day I was born was also Dusshera. I am grateful to my parents," Bachchan told reporters here when asked about his birthday.
This year too, hundreds of fans had gathered outside Big B's residence in suburban Juhu to wish him.
With his fourth National Award this year and commercial success and critical acclaim for "Pink", Bachchan had reasons enough to celebrate his birthday in a big way but he chose to keep it low-key and has no special plans to ring in the day except to be with his family.

"I was with family last night. Everyone wished me. Aaradhya is sleeping right now. I will spend time with family today," he said.
Bachchan is grateful to everyone for their never-ending love and support.

"I am grateful that there are followers but this doesn't happen to me alone, it happens with everyone in the film industry. I am thankful to my fans, media and family and friends for their love and support," he added.
With each passing year, Bachchan keep surprising fans with his performances. In 2016, he had three releases "Wazir", "Te3n", and "Pink". Now, the industry veteran is looking forward to the next year and is all charged up to work hard, give his best and entertain audience.

"I am looking forward to the next year. Everyday I am breathing is what is nice and I am happy about it. I will continue to work hard," he said.
"Whatever I do I get happiness and peace in that, when I am talking to fans on social media I get happiness and when I am with family and friends I get happiness, " he added.
His upcoming films are Ram Gopal Varma's "Sarkar 3", and Aditya Chopra's production "Thugs of Hindostan" with superstar Aamir Khan.
Born in 1942 in Allahabad, it took Bachchan a wait of 13 flops to finally break in the film industry as a lead hero, thanks to Prakash Mehra's action film "Zanjeer".

There were a few hiccups in Bachchan's otherwise
illustrious career, including a near-fatal injury while shooting for "Coolie" (1983). He returned to the big screen after a five-year absence with the box-office success "Shahenshah" in 1988.
In 1990, Bachchan played the iconic role of gangster Vijay Deenanath Chauhan in Mukul S Anand's "Agneepath". Despite being a box-office failure, it won him his first ever National Film Award for Best Actor and has since developed a cult status.
In 1996, he started his film production company Amitabh Bachchan Corporation whose first release "Tere Mere Sapne" was a box-office failure.
This was perhaps the lowest spell in Bachchan's career, by his own admission, and it only broke with Yash Chopra's "Mohabbatein" in 2001, where he featured alongside the reigning star Shah Rukh Khan.

Bachchan, who is the son of noted Hindi poet Harisvanshrai Bachchan, maintains till today that he will always be grateful to the late filmmaker for giving him the movie when he needed it the most.
The same year, Bachchan made his television debut as the host of the game show "Kaun Banega Crorepati". Like many other things, he became a trend setter on the small screen as well.Huge success of "Kaun Banega Crorepati" made way for stars like Shah Rukh and Salman Khan to take up hosting on television.
On the big screen, Bachchan by then had deviated towards more character-oriented parts like that of a short-tempered banker in "Aankhen", a disillusioned father in "Baghban" and a conflicted cop in "Khakee".

In 2005, he played the role of a teacher of a blind and deaf girl in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Black", for which he received his second National Award. He received another National Award for playing a progeria patient in R Balki's "Paa" (2009).
In the 2000s, one of the most notable characters Bachchan played was in Ram Gopal Varma's "Sarkar". His understated, nuanced performance as Subhash Nagre aka Sarkar is rates as one of his finest acts ever.
Besides his work in India, Bachchan made his Hollywood debut at the age of 71 in 2013 with Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby".

Indian government honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1984, the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015 for his contributions to the art.