Mukul Anand's Agneepath presented Amitabh in a new light. Its promos claimed he had changed his voice to play a wry gangster with a troubled past. With kohl-lined eyes and a stylised performance, Amitabh looked different all right. Playing Vijay Dinanath Chauhan won him a National Award.

In Mukul Anand's next flick Hum, Bachchan's character Tiger journeyed from unabashed youngster to mature elder brother looking after cantankerous siblings Rajnikanth and Govinda. Amitabh's boogeying to Jhumma chumma de de with Kimi Katkar still plays on late night television 15 years after its release.

Anand's costume drama Khuda Gawah was set in Afghanistan. Bachchan rocked as the proud, trustworthy Pathan Badshah Khan, his last film before self-imposed retirement in 1992.