This story begins in Uttar Pradesh, somewhere between Lucknow and Kanpur, cities where SMM Ausaja spent his youth. His obsession with Amitabh Bachchan began when he was 10. The year was 1981, an era when film postcards were still sold by the roadside. Young boys and girls spent their meagre pocket money on buying a postcard; otherwise they would make do with cutting up pages from film magazines.

Ausaja says a postcard of film Kaalia which released on December 25, 1981, was one of the first to go into his collection, which has grown over the decades to make the Andheri resident one of India’s largest private collector of all things archival about Indian cinema and Bachchan in particular.

In the year that the superstar of Hindi cinema readies to celebrate his 80th birthday, Ausaja along with the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) and PVR Cinemas has planned an exhibit titled ‘Bachchan: Back to the Beginning,’ as it attempts to bring alive the 1970s and ‘80s, both decades when Bachchan ruled Bollywood as hero. Scheduled to run from October 8 to 11 at the PVR Juhu lounge, the exhibit will display Bachchan memorabilia that Ausaja says is being shown to the public for the first time. Perhaps, the only time.

The showcase is part of a larger four-day film festival that surrounds the same theme, organized by FHF and PVR Cinemas, and expects to screen 11 of the actor’s super-hit movies including Don, Deewar, Chupke Chupke, Kaala Pathar, Amar Akbar Anthony, Satta Pe Satta and Namak Halal across 25 cinema halls in 18 cities.

“Growing up, I was the biggest Amitabh Bachchan fan. I used to break bounds when I was in school to watch his films and was often thrown out of class in college for sitting on the back benches and writing notes about his films. It has been a mammoth task putting together the best of his early films which launched him as a superstar and to showcase these films so that audiences across the country can enjoy the films the way they were originally screened–on the big screen,” says FHF founder director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur. 

Ausaja says he is what he is today—film historian, archivist and author, thanks to the actor. “He has allowed me into his life ever since I first met him in 1999,” Ausaja tells mid-day. “He doesn’t speak much but his gestures speak volumes. He is aware that I have been archiving material on him for most of my adult life, and I have written books too, but when we meet, he doesn’t shower me with praise. Without my knowledge, he does little things that make a difference.”

Ausaja remembers how when a collector’s edition title was launched on Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Bachchan sent him a signed copy. “This is huge for me. For anyone. It’s Amit ji taking out time to send you something, anything!”

Bachchan remembered to invite Ausaja to his 60th birthday celebration, and he is a regular at his Holi parties. For Bachchan’s 70th birthday, Ausaja was picked to organise an exhibition as part of the Big B 70 celebrations organised by the actor’s wife, actress and politician Jaya Bachchan, and Kokilaben Ambani. For the upcoming exhibit, Bachchan’s son, actor Abhishek Bachchan took to Twitter to share the poster of Bachchan: Back To The Beginning and wrote, “Even more epicness!!!! All the best @smmausaja all your many years of hard work and perseverance” (sic).

Ausaja says that when he met Bachchan first in 1999, he was working as the head of production firm run by reality television star and late politician Pramod Mahajan’s son, Rahul Mahajan. “We had held a Kargil victory concert on August 15, 1999 in Srinagar for which Amit ji agreed to perform. After all the decades of archiving his work, I was able to meet him personally during this project. I have kept in touch post. When I wrote my first book, Bollywood In Posters in 2009, I approached him to have a look at it. He took me by surprise when he recommended that I release it at that year’s IIFA. He not only made it happen, but personally launched it in Macau.”

The book has a collection of both hand-painted and digitized Bollywood posters starting from the 1930s. It went on to be nominated for the Vodafone-Crossword Book Awards under the Best Non-Fiction and Best Popular Book categories.

Years of collecting data on the man has allowed him a little more access than the common fan. He remembers the time he spotted a pair of baby pink shoes in his size in his vanity van. “I also don’t know which perfume he wears, but he smells like heaven.”

In filmi style, Ausaja has the last word when he says about Bachchan’s stardom, “When you have luck, you are Jeetendra. When you have talent, you are Naseeruddin Shah. But when you have both, luck and talent, you are Amitabh Bachchan.”

His iconic dialogue from the 1988 film Shahenshah, “Rishte mai toh hum tumhare baap hote hain...naam hai Shahenshah,” became as famous as the leather jacket ordained with original steel links on the right arm. The original jacket will be on display. “It was procured from Vistas Media Capital which owns the NFT platform Fantico. In November 2021, it was sold to a Dubai-based NRI for Rs. 12.5 lakh, but he is yet to acquire it from VMC, so this will perhaps also be the last time that the public will view it, before the buyer acquires possession,” says Ausaja, who is also vice-president of Fantico. 

Three-dimensional artwork by award winning artist Shailesh Achrekar which appears at first glance like a painted portrait but when viewed from a variety of angles, flashes scenes from Bachchan’s films. A Giant Deewar cutout also festures. “There is also a seven-feet tall cut-out of Amit ji wearing the knotted-shirt from Deewar. Visitors can take selfies with the artwork designed by senior cinema poster designer Shrikant Dhongade,” says Ausaja. 

A photograph of Bachchan and Jaya from the sets of Abhimaan which released a month after their 1973 wedding makes up a collection that Ausaja says is not readily available online.