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One Massive Fan Of Big B Built A Temple For Him In Kolkata. This Is His Story.

There are fans and then there is the ¡®jabra¡¯ fan.
Umang Sharma Updated on Mar 19, 2017, 18:03 IST

There are fans and then there is the ¡®jabra¡¯ fan. Apologies for using the SRK-made-famous word, but you have to meet Sanjay Patodiya, a die-hard fan of the Shahanshah of Bollywood, Big B - Amitabh Bachchan.

And how do we know that he is a hell bent, die-hard, unlike any other follower of the Bollywood star? For that, you need to take a walk down Bondel Road near Ballygunge and walk further inroads to a special place dedicated to Mr?Bachchan. That is what yours truly did.

Get down at Ballygunge Phanri and take an auto (you could walk, that is what we did) to Bondel Gate. Once there, cross the railway tracks and seven minutes in, you will find a lesser known road called Shree Dhar Roy Road ¡ª lesser known because almost everyone we asked did not know about the place ¡ª once there you will come across a shrine like no other, a place dedicated entirely to the persona celebrated as Mr ?Amitabh Bachchan.

And helming the place is none other than self-proclaimed Amitabh Bachchan fan, Sanjay Patodiya.

As we walk into this garage space on the ground floor that has been converted to a shrine for the superstar, well we wonder, what makes this place so famous?

Yes, there are hundreds of pictures of the famed superstar adorning the walls, pillars, doors, ceilings. Yes, there are quotes like ¡°Sorry God We Worship Amitji More Than You,¡± lining the walls. For starters, it is a temple.

¡°The temple was formed by the fan club of the superstar in 1979,¡± says Sanjay, going on to add, ¡°We all fans congregated one fine day and decided to create something that would bring all fans of Amitabh Bachchan together and do social work in his name.¡±

He further elucidates, ¡°We hold blood donation camps, educate underprivileged children, donate clothes during festivals, help people who are affected by natural calamities.¡±

Prod him further, and he lets slip, ¡°It was not one man's idea to start a fan club but the idea of making a temple and worshiping Amitabh Bachchan as god was mine¡±, says Sanjay Patodiya.

So, do they perform regular rites and pujas, one wonders? Nonchalantly, Sanjay replies, ¡°We perform puja daily, perform aarti and a special prayer is conducted on Guru Purnima as well.¡±

¡°I consider him as my guru.¡±

There are two kinds of people in the world, Sanjay feels. ¡°People who call this place a museum because it is almost a testament to everything that he has done in life, and people who worship him and consider this place as a temple.¡±

Temple?

Sure enough, Sanjay takes us into the inner sanctum and in there, in all its glory stands the kingly ornate dark-green chair procured from the sets of Aks ¨C a supernatural thriller. On the chair is placed a glass case with a pair of white leather shoes in it. Shoes that Amitabh Bachchan wore in the film Agneepath. And on the glass case rests Bachchan¡¯s portrait. All across the ¡®singhasan¡¯ once can see ¡®Jai Shree Amitabh written across the walls.¡¯

¡°The shoe kept here was worn by Amitabh Bachchan and he gave it to me. I took it as a belonging of god and I worship it daily. He considers us to be fans but we, and especially I consider him as my god,¡± says Sanjay in quick succession.

So, does Mr Bachchan know that he has a temple dedicated to him in the city of joy? The very place he started his career from?

¡°When media informed him that he is worshipped as god over here, Amitabh Bachchan said he is a human and should be considered as human and not god. I do not want to hurt his sentiments as he is a god to me,¡± says Sanjay, adding, ¡°However, he highlighted in front of media about the social work we do. This incident is also mentioned in his book - Main Amitabh Bachchan Bol Raha Hoon.¡±

So how did he get the shoe and the chair, we ask and Sanjay says that he has asked him for the shoe in 2001. ¡°Rakesh Om Prakash Mehara gave me the chair.¡±

According to Sanjay, the place is pretty popular with fans and tourists from all over the world.

¡°People from the country and abroad visit this place often. There are books, blog, fan pages, write-ups where there is a mention of this temple. Dia Mirza too visited this place and one thing that touched everyone's heart was when she said that she would pray to god to have fans like us.

We cannot help but ask if the superstar himself has ever visited his shrine, Sanjay explains, ¡°I will never ask him to and I will not be able to tell him that this place is a museum because it is temple for me and I cannot lie to him as we cannot lie to god. I often meet Amitabh Bachchan. He knows me and my family by our names, but I have never asked him to come here, also, you cannot ask a God to visit his own temple, can you?¡±

The craze for Mr Bachchan is evident here, Sanjay reminds us that no one can match the success of Amitabh Bachchan. People of all age groups from all walks of life respect him, like him. His fans have always found novel ways of celebrating him as well!

¡°We make his birthday also special. Once on his birthday, we took out a chariot in Mumbai and Amitabh Bachchan himself came to get on the chariot. This had created a big chaos and problem back then. He said he would go from Pratiksha to Jalsa in the chariot but the crowd went mad and it was not successful.¡±

With over 500 members in this fan club, Big B movie release days are a celebration in itself. More so for Sanjay who has never watched a matinee show of Amitabh in his life. ¡°This is like a tradition.¡±

Sanjay lovingly calls Bachchan senior as 'Daa', an oft-used word in Bengali which means elder brother. ¡°We never address him with his name. Even in the crowd if I call him 'Daa' he can easily identify it is me who is calling him.¡±

Sanjay¡¯s affection for the superstar finds a voice in his family too!

¡°I have two children. Both are boys. My elder son name is Abhishek after Abhishek Bachchan while my younger son's name is Agasthya, the name was given by Amitabh Bachchan himself and is also the name of Shweta Bachchan's son. I always wanted a daughter after my first child. I was sure to name her Shweta after Shweta Bachchan, but instead, I was lucky to be the father of a baby boy. When I told Mr Bachchan about it, he was the one who suggested I name him Agasthya.¡±

So what next for the temple?

¡°We are planning to replace the photograph in the main sanctum of the temple with his statue. The statue is likely to be put in the upcoming Guru Purnima. We are going to ask Sushanto Roy from Asansol to make the statue. We had already got a statue of Amitabh Bachchan made by Sushanto Roy and gifted to Amitabhji on his 60th birthday. This statue will be different - the cloth the statue will be clad in will be of Amitabh Bachchan. Something which he has worn already.¡±

Asked whom did the members of the fan club and especially Sanjay prayed when Amitabh Bachchan fell ill and was hospitalised? Sanjay took a few moment, turned emotional and said, "We prayed to the god of my god (Amitabh Bachchan) for his early recovery."?

Sanjay, who swear by his faith on Amitabh Bachchan, proudly says, "If I ever get a chance, I will definitely try to rename this street of Kolkata after Mr Bachchan,¡±?

He signs off! by saying a very inspiring line by Harivansh Rai Bachchan which he personally follows in his life - 'Aakhir Uski Mehnat Bekar Nahi Hoti, Koshish Karne Waloon Ki Haar Nahi Hoti'. With confidence in his eyes and voice, Sanjay says my god will be happy with what I am doing for him.

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