Amitabh Bachchan at 80: Five film releases in 2022, KBC 14 and India’s top brand endorser, how Big B refuses to slow down

Amitabh Bachchan has been a constant presence on our screens in 2022, perhaps more so than others. He’s been almost everywhere, be it television, films, social media presence or brand endorsements.  While it’s impressive that Akshay Kumar, at the age of 55, has churned out four films this year, regardless of their success rate, Amitabh Bachchan is several steps ahead. The legitimate OG superstar has already released 4 films this year, and the fifth one, Uunchai is just around the corner. They were a peculiar mix of all genres, as is always the case with Bachchan — while Jhund was a biographical sports drama, Brahmastra was a fantastical mythological sci-fi film, and Goode was an emotional story, dealing with the tricky subject of grief. Runway 34 was a thriller film where he played the role of the head of AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau). It’s one of the most remarkable aspects about Bachchan, despite his towering stardom, he can fit into any role, be it as an aged cranky father in Piku, a merciless lawyer in Badla, or a stingy miser in Gulabo Sitabo.
Most of the films in 2022 under-performed at the box office, except for Brahmastra, yet Amitabh Bachchan was always seen as the best aspect of the films, lending gravitas to even the most underwhelming of offerings. Nevertheless, next is Uunchai, directed Sooraj Barjatya. It promises to be a slice-of-life film that revolves around a healing journey undertaken four friends to scale Mount Everest. He also served as the narrator for the Hindi version of Prabhas and Pooja Hegde’s Radhey Shyam. Bachchan is still not sitting idle after this, as he has Project K with Prabhas and Deepika Padukone.
But that’s not all—the actor also hosted the fourteenth season of his show, Kaun Banega Crorepati, even though of late there have been mixed reviews about the wavering quality of the show. Since 2000, Amitabh Bachchan has hosted the show, save for the one time Shah Rukh Khan took over, sitting and quizzing people, and sharing their stories. He also has been the face of numerous endorsements ranging from RBI, Parker Pens, Gujarat Tourism, Navratna Oil, Just Dial, Emami and Kalyan Jewellers to name a few. In the year 2021, Bachchan stood on number 6 on the Duff & Phelps Celebrity Brand Valuation Report with a brand value of $ 54.2 million.
Looking through his filmography, Big B has always worked hard and relentlessly—and this drive seems to be increasing with age.  It’s safe to say that Bachchan, at the age of 80, continues to push himself a lot more and beyond—perhaps more than even actors decades his juniors. His contemporaries, meanwhile, rarely step out of retirement to do a film.
Back in 2019, when Bachchan was asked how he has so much passion and energy to continue working, he answered coolly, “It’s my job. I got to do it. It’s tough to have a job these days.”