Amitabh Bachchan or in fact the Bachchan family is more like a household name for years now. They are everywhere but did you know the surname Bachchan was not his original surname and was taken up by his father for some reasons.
Big B, talking to a daily revealed why: “My father’s name was Harivansh Rai Shrivastav. The surname Shrivastav or any other surname in India traditionally means it belongs to a specific caste. The surname immediately puts a person into a classical stereotype. Yeh Brahman hai, yeh Dalit hai, yeh Kshatriya hai and so on. My father abhorred the system because it led to deep divisions among the people regardless of merit.”
“My father shed the caste from his name and took on the name Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Bachchan became the family surname. Bachchan was my father’s brand of rejecting the stereotypes of caste and creed. I take pride in carrying forward the legacy. I am a Bachchan,” he added.
