At 84, Amitabh Bachchan Has Rs 4,000 Crore and No Plans to Retire

Amitabh Bachchan has just turned 84, and the question he keeps getting is whether he will slow down. The answer, delivered in a new conversation with Subhash K Jha for Rediff, is an emphatic no.

Still working, still grateful

‘What is there to celebrate? It’s a day like any other day,’ Bachchan said of his birthday, before adding the line that matters more: ‘I’m grateful that I am still working, that my body is able to keep pace with my spirit.’

The actor is currently hosting the 18th season of Kaun Banega Crorepati, proof that his working rhythm hasn’t slowed.

A birthday poem that became a second life

Bachchan also explained why birthdays carry a particular weight in his family. His father, poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, would compose and recite a poem for each family member’s birthday. The tradition changed meaning after Bachchan’s near-fatal injury on the Coolie set in the 1980s.

‘It was like a new life for me,’ he said. ‘While reading the poem, my father broke down. It was the only time I’ve seen him like that.’

Those brushes with death are why he has never seriously considered retirement. ‘Why should I think of giving up?’ he asked. ‘Someone somewhere has protected me all these years.’

From a financial low to Rs 4,000 crore

It isn’t only health that has tested him. In the 1990s, his company Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited ran into deep financial trouble and left him facing bankruptcy. He rebuilt from there, and the Hurun India Rich List 2026 now estimates his net worth at Rs 4,000 crore.

Bachchan, though, insists money was never his skill. ‘I have no idea about what sells and what doesn’t. I’m bad with economics and finance,’ he said.

The reinvention playbook

What stands out from the interview is not just endurance but repeated reinvention: leading-man stardom with Yash Chopra, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Manmohan Desai, then a political detour in 1984, a comeback after the ABCL crisis, and now character-driven senior roles. He is direct about this phase:

• He accepts senior character roles and builds from there.
• He does not chase directing—he says he doesn’t know the craft well enough.
• He offers suggestions to directors but treats the director as captain of the ship.

His unfulfilled wishes are small and revealing: to play the piano, to work with Guru Dutt, and to spend more time with his family. For an actor whose 2026 net worth is Rs 4,000 crore, the list is a reminder of what he leaves outside the frame.

Why the no-retirement stance matters

For Hindi film fans, Bachchan is one of the few stars whose career connects the 1970s blockbuster era to today’s television and big-screen cycles. As long as he keeps working, that living archive stays on screen. His KBC 18 slot gives the audience a weekly reminder of that continuity.

Source: The Times of India