Amitabh Bachchan's 74th birthday celebrations: Selfies, bouquets and a pink cake

Amitabh Bachchan greets fans, including a lookalike, at Janak on his 74th birthday

Birthday boy Amitabh Bachchan stepped out of his home in an off-white and yellow chikan kurta for his big day. Asked if it was new, he exclaimed with child-like glee, "Yes." From chikan couturiers Abu-Sandeep's collection? He flashed a smile.

On his 74th birthday yesterday, his Juhu office Janak was a busy place as fans assembled there and the star's popular chartbusters played in the background. At about 11 am, the music stopped. "Aa gaye, aa gaye [He has arrived]," someone declared aloud. Big B made an entry to the tune of Main Hoon Don. The 'Happy Birthday' song rent the air. He was accompanied by a posse of security officers as well as cops.

The cake from fans. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar

Greeting the crowd in his trademark baritone, Big B quoted a line from his father Harivanshrai Bachchan's poem, "Nav varsh, harsh nav, jeevan utkarsh nava." Like every year, Big B celebrated his birthday with the media, fans and EF (he refers to his multitude of fans on social media as Extended Family) thronging his houses, Jalsa and Pratiksha, as well as Janak, all in each other's vicinity at Juhu Scheme. Every birthday, Big B makes an early morning visit to Pratiksha where his parents lived. He spends some time there and then heads to Janak to meet the media and fans.

Biscuits, wafers, samosas and tea were served to those who had gathered. There was no cake, though some members of the EF brought in a three-tier pink cake (his last outing was Pink), but Big B left it untouched. Looking around, one also saw pink balloons merrily swaying to the breeze.

"I stopped cutting cake many years ago," he says, and adds, "I do not understand the concept and the rationale behind it. First, as soon as the cake is placed on the table, candles are placed, and then they have to be lit and blown. Then you need a large knife to cut it. The slices are to be fed to each other. And what is this fascination for smearing cake on everyone's faces? I do not get the point."

Scores of fans waited patiently to wish him with bouquets and cards, some with EF plastered on their face to display their connect with him in the virtual world, others with placards with messages for their matinee idol. His look-alikes were there too. Among the scores of gifts was a jukebox from Netherlands.

Then he got ready to field questions in an open session. Would he be the President of India? He said Shatru babu (Shatrughan Sinha) keeps joking about it. He talked about his upcoming films Sarkar 3, for which he will begin shooting soon, and Thugs of Hindostan with Aamir Khan, which rolls in February. Asked about the current Indo-Pak scene and the ban on Pakistani artistes, Big B was not too keen to get into sensitive territory. He said, "It is not the right time to speak about it. Who says what and when, and the country is incensed. It is time to show solidarity to the jawans who are sacrificing their lives." But, didn't he recently tweet, "Don't mess with the Indian army"? It's a dialogue from his 1998 film Major Saab, he reasoned.

While the celebrations were underway, granddaughter Aaradhya was fast asleep, so he had not caught up with her. The celebrations continued upstairs in Janak where several of his EF folk requested for selfies and autographs while presenting gifts. Some of his fans relentlessly clicked his pictures as well as the interiors of Janak. Anything connected with the legend has to be captured for posterity and Bachchan wasn't stopping anyone. At 74, Big B's energy is indefatigable. "After all, all this has kept me going all these years," he said.