Dhirubhai Ambani Had Great Respect For Amitabh....

Ali Peter John

The year 2000 had started with defeat, debacles and near destruction of the empire built by one man who till then was known as ‘The Angry Young man', ‘The Number 1 to 10' and the ‘Star Among Stars' more than he was known by his name, Amitabh Bachchan...

His ambition and all the money he had made as an actor inspired him to start his own company, ABCL(Amitabh Bachchan Corporate Limited) and he had unlimited plans for his company. His company hosted the ABCL's Miss World pageant in Bangalore which recieved a very good response, but was a major disaster which led ABCL to face huge losses running into crores. It was at the same time that ABCL also launched a number of films, some starring Amitabh himself and others which were films made by his company with the noble intention of giving opportunities to newcomers. Everything Amitabh touched seemed to be doomed and he was in a serious financial crisis, till he reached a stage when even his house, ‘Prateeksha' had recieved court Receiver's orders and he was almost in the brink of deperation. There was no money coming in, there was no work coming in and there were no plans being made for the future. He spent most of his days thinking and worrying about the future. The news about his financial condition became the talk of the nation....

And among those who sympathised with him was the founder of Reliance Industries, Dhirubhai Ambani. He was a fan of Amitabh's films and his personality and told his younger son, Anil Ambani to think of some way to be of help to “the great actor". Anil Ambani met Amitabh and told him about his father's plans, but Amitabh must have remembered all the values his father, the poet Dr Harivanshrai Bachchan had brought him up on and so Amitabh thanked Mr Ambani but gently turned down the offer for help....

The times soon changed. Amitabh started a new chapter in his life with a film called “Mohabbatein" which he had to go to his good old friend, Yash Chopra to ask for and Yash got him the role in his son Aaditya Chopra's film which also had Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai and a number of newcomers. It was the beginning of a new flood of offers for Amitabh to play a wide variety of roles, which he is still doing...

Amitabh had regained his position and status and Ambani had not forgotten how he had stood by his values and had worked out his own way of walking out of the dark crisis he was threatned with...

Ambani had a huge party in his house where he had invited some of the biggest names in the corporate world. He also made sure that he invited Amitabh who did not know why he was being included in that elite class of people, but he couldn't turn down the offer from the man who was willing to wipe out all his debts in a moment.

The party was on in Ambani's house. Ambani was sitting with his own group of billionaires and Amitabh was with some of his friends from the industry. Dhirubhai invited Amitabh to sit with him and his friends. Amitabh was a little embarrassed and somehow got out of the situation and went back to his friends, but before he could turn, he heard Dhirubhai tell his friends,“that young man had fallen to the ground, but he refused all help and stood up on his own and I respect him for it."Amitabh always says that the one sentence Dhirubhai had said about him was worth much more than all the money he had once offered him to help him get out of the crisis he was stuck in.

The relationship between the Ambanis and the Bachchans has only grown stronger during the last decade. Amitabh was very busy when Dhirubhai had fallen seriously sick, but he made sure that he found time to visit Dhirubhai in hospital every day and was with him till the very end.

Amitabh was very happy when Mani Ratnam selected Abhishek Bachchan to play the role of Dhirubhai Ambani in his film “Guru" and was extremely pleased with Abhishek for playing the best role of his career.

The Bachchans have been a part of all the elaborate weddings and other events and functions of the Ambanis. He showed how close he was to them when he organised a special session of his show “Kaun Banega Crorepati" as a part of the celebrations of the wedding of Anant, the son of Mukesh and Neeta Ambani.

There has been a section of people who have been looking down and this relationship but it has not affected the two families and will not from the way they have built their own bond.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Dhirubhai Ambani, Amitabh Bachchan, Dhirubhai Ambani Biography