Special photo exhibition planned to celebrate Amitabh Bachchan’s 75th birthday

Actor Amitabh Bachchan turned 75 last year on 11 October, but many are still celebrating the veteran artiste’s platinum year. A special exhibition titled Frames 75, curated by photojournalist Pradeep Chandra and film historian and collector SMM Ausaja, will showcase several stages from Bachchan’s storied career. 75 pieces of photographs, artworks (sketches, paintings, etc), posters, lobby cards and more will be displayed to commemorate the actor.

A preview will be held on 9 May at The St Regis Hotel in Lower Parel, Mumbai. Bachchan will open the exhibition and many invitees from the film, art and media industries are expected to attend. The exhibition will then move to Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International Institute in Goregaon where it will be accessible to everyone from film students to the actor’s fans.

In a statement, Ghai said of the upcoming event, “Whistling Woods International takes pride in supporting and encouraging various art forms and talented artistes. We are delighted to associate with Frames 75 — the exhibition curated by Pradeep Chandra and SMM Ausaja and would like to congratulate the duo. They have showcased a unique and never-seen-before tribute to the legendary actor Mr Amitabh Bachchan in his 75th year. I would like to encourage all cinema lovers to witness this grand exhibition which is a treasure of legacy that will be passed on to the future generations, for years to come.”

“Wednesday evening is the opening preview of the exhibition. The actual exhibition is happening at Whistling Woods, next day onwards for 10 days. It is open for the public, Bachchan fans, for film students, anybody can walk in and enjoy. This endeavour is being supported by Subhash Ghai and our venue partner, St Regis,” Ausaja told Cinestaan.com in a phone conversation.

“We were expecting a big splash on Mr Bachchan’s 75 birthday which unfortunately didn’t happen and he also didn’t celebrate [it] for personal reasons. But we realized that this is his 75th year and we can celebrate him anytime during this year, because he will never be 75 again,” Ausaja continued. “The idea was to showcase something never seen before. These are not common images.”

Photojournalist Chandra has been documenting the actor’s film journey for over 40 years and many of the images he has shot will also be included in the exhibition.

“Selecting was a very difficult task because there are so many images. We sat and decided what we liked and what we thought people will like. I did an exhibition for his 61st birthday at JW Marriott with 61 artworks and photographs which he had come to,” Chandra said.

Chandra and Ausaja began work on the exhibition since Bachchan’s birthday and been hard at work acquiring these one-of-a-kind pieces. They’ve shown him a sneak peek of the exhibition already. If it is a success, they are open to take it wherever there is interest.