At his career peak, when most of his films were hits, Amitabh Bachchan faced an unexpected situation during the 1975 Emergency, as some film magazines banned mentioning him in their content.
Film critic and author Bharathi S Pradhan told ANI that after the Emergency ended, some film magazines blamed Sr Bachchan for censoring their content. They accused him of editing articles, including those in popular magazines.
After the Emergency was lifted, some magazines banned Big B believing he was associated with VC Shukla and Congress, and was involved in censoring their content.Pradhan shared that the boycott created unusual situations where magazines avoided mentioning Amitabh Bachchan’s name. In filmographies, if he was a co-star, they would replace his name with a comma instead of listing him, as he was banned from being mentioned.
Pradhan mentioned that Mr Bachchan was aware of the ban and would position himself in group photos in a way that made it easier for editors to remove his image.
Pradhan recalled that once Amitabh realised what was happening, he deliberately stood at the extreme right or left in group photos. He even mentioned to her that he did this to make it easier for editors to cut him out.