This Gurpurab, Amitabh Bachchan gently revisited a quieter strand of his family story — his connection to a Sikh lineage through his mother, Teji Kaur Suri, whose family hailed from Punjab.

On Kaun Banega Crorepati 16, the veteran actor spoke candidly about his parents’ union and said he was uneasy with the label “inter-caste.” To a contestant he explained, “I find it a little awkward to call it inter-caste. My father was from Uttar Pradesh, and my mother was from a Sikh family. I believe I am half-Sardar. When I was born, my masis (maternal aunts) would say, ‘Kinna sona putar hai, sadda Amitabh Singh (What a beautiful son, our Amitabh Singh).’”

He has often returned to memories of those early days in Allahabad, describing how his mother’s devotion left a lasting mark. Recalling past Gurpurabs, he wrote about the sound of Gurbani in his childhood: “Those early years in Allahabad, when Ma recited and sang the eternal pious and divine words of the Gurbani, in my ears… ‘tati vaar na jaavaee…’ My Mother, as you know, a Sikh, Teji Kaur Suri, my grandfather Sardar Khazan Singh Suri, my Grandmother a Sodi, and whose family, her brothers and my Mother’s Mama’s, were the Prabandhaks of the Anantpur Sahib Gurudwara…”

These recollections underscore how deeply his mother’s faith and the melodic Gurbani shaped moments of his youth, especially during Gurpurab observances.

About Amitabh Bachchan’s Parents:

• Harivansh Rai Bachchan: A distinguished Hindi poet and writer, best known for Madhushala and credited with contributions to the Nayi Kavita movement. He was honored with the Padma Bhushan in 1976 and adopted “Bachchan” as his pen name. He was born in Babupatti, then part of the United Provinces.

• Teji Bachchan (née Teji Kaur Suri): Born into a Sikh family in Lyallpur, Punjab (present-day Pakistan), she was actively involved in social causes and theatre. Teji met Harivansh at a college event in Lahore and the couple married in Allahabad in 1941.

The marriage of Harivansh and Teji, much like Amitabh’s later union with Jaya Bhaduri in 1973, illustrates families coming together across regional and cultural lines.