There was a time when Amitabh Bachchan faced a media ban that too for 15 years. Let’s find out why the media banned him and how Big B reacted to it.
Amitabh Bachchan earned the title of ‘Megastar of the Century’ from the Indian media due to his brilliant voice and acting. But interestingly, there was also a time when Big B faced a media ban.
Moreover, this media was not for 1 or 2 years but for 15 years. Yes! With the given times it’s hard to imagine that he would be banned from receiving media coverage. But the superstar faced such circumstances at the peak of his stardom.
Why was Big B banned by media?
During the Emergency period in 1975, a section of the film media boycotted Amitabh Bachchan for his alleged role in the press censorship imposed at the time. In a throwback video to Lehran, Amitabh Bachchan recounts how, in retaliation, he barred the media from his film sets for years, believing he didn’t need to say anything other than what he had to say on screen.
‘In 1975, when the Emergency was declared in the country, film journalists misunderstood that the press censorship that accompanied the Emergency was due to me. They believed that this man is close to Indira Gandhi and is involved in press censorship, so we should ban Amitabh Bachchan. They stopped writing about me and publishing my pictures. If I were in a film, they would write about the star cast, but not my name,’ Big B said in the video.
How did Amitabh Bachchan react?
The megastar further explained that in response, he barred the media from his film sets and refused to give any interviews for years. He recalled, ‘I felt that if the press had the freedom to ban me, I should also have the freedom to ban them. So whenever I was shooting, journalists wanted to meet me, and I would refuse. This continued for about 15 years.’
According to senior Bachchan, this ban was lifted after he entered politics because he needed the media to reach out to the public. For the unversed Amitabh Bachchan contested and won the Lok Sabha elections from Allahabad in 1984, serving as an MP for three years. He eventually resigned in 1987 and returned to acting.
For those who don’t know, according to Hurun India Rich List 2025, Amitabh Bachchan along with his family is the fifth richest actor with a massive net worth of Rs 1,630 crore.
Also Read: Hurun Rich List 2025: Shah Rukh Khan crowned richest Indian actor, see who else made the top 5
