Born into a dynasty of legends, and educated in the west, you’d think Abhishek Bachchan’s future had already been mapped even before he was born. And with characters like the swaggering anti-hero of Yuva or the whimsical gangster in Ludo or the cricket coach in Ghoomer (2023) and the marketing executive battling cancer in I Want to Talk (2024), he has constantly shown an appetite for a craft that accompanied the weight of his lineage. But instead of resting on those laurels or just sticking to a formula, unlike many contemporaries, Bachchan pivoted. And he did so not with the desperation of someone clinging to relevance, but with the precision of a chess player plotting an endgame.

What came next was a metamorphosis few anticipated. The second act of his career saw him building his own universe, expanding much further beyond the confines of the one he’d inherited. In 2014, Bachchan became the first Bollywood star to own a professional kabaddi team – the Jaipur Pink Panthers. Sceptics scoffed. But Bachchan’s unconventional gamble marked the beginning of a new chapter.

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In 2015, he was among the first few Bollywood celebrities to invest in blockchain. The investment ballooned from $250,000 to $17.5 million when the company got acquired by NASDAQ-listed LongFin Corp. He also has a burgeoning real estate portfolio that, since 2020, accounts for more than a quarter of celebrity real estate transactions in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), reportedly amassing approximately 0.19 million square feet (msf) of property with a combined investment of Rs 219 crore. He was also a part of hyper-local quick commerce platform Zepto’s $350 million funding round along with Sachin Tendulkar, RP Sanjay Goenka Group and the likes. His recent investment is a homegrown hot sauce brand, Naagin, which he serves at home to guests. “Love ignites the spark, but cold-eyed strategy fans the flame,” he says, revealing the duality of shrewdness and passion, symbolic of a veteran investor who is at the top of his game.

To call him an actor, entrepreneur, or sports mogul would be reductive. The artiste who dissects balance sheets, the team owner who quotes Tupac, the legacy-keeper who bets on kabaddi players and blockchain startups with equal fervour, and even chooses films that defy typecasting, Bachchan embodies a modern duality, emerging globally amongst actors like Ryan Gosling or Ashton Kutcher, who are renowned as multi-billion dollar investors that seamlessly blend artistic credibility with shrewd entrepreneurial instincts. They no longer just lend star power—they wield influence and insight, harnessing cultural intuition alongside market acumen. In a world increasingly defined by versatility, Bachchan stands comfortably among these global peers, not merely navigating the realms of cinema and commerce but bridging them effortlessly. It’s an evolved model of celebrity—one where creative pursuits and calculated investments feed into each other, redefining what success means beyond the screen, the balance sheet, and a family name synonymous with cinema. 

On His Reinvention

By 2015, Bachchan found himself facing creative stagnation. “I was complacent. Everything felt easy, and that scared me,” he admits. And for an artiste, that kind of comfort can be deadly. So,he took an extraordinary step for a successful actor in his prime – he stepped away. “I needed to recalibrate,” he says of that decision. “If you don’t step back, you can’t grow.” During this hiatus, he diverted his energy to other pursuits (setting up his sports ventures and home office, as we’ve seen), but more importantly, he took time to introspect about the kind of work he truly wanted to do. “Failure teaches you more than success ever will,” Bachchan notes, reflecting on lessons learned from 25 years in the industry. By the time he felt ready to face the cameras again, he had a clearer sense of purpose, informed as much by what he didn’t want to do as what he did.

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His return to cinema in 2018 was marked by a film that proved to be a turning point: Anurag Kashyap’s Manmarziyaan. In it, Bachchan played Robbie, a mild-mannered DJ caught in an unconventional love triangle – a character rife with vulnerability. It was a far cry from the one-dimensional “hero” roles of his early career, and that was entirely by design. By now, digital streaming had exploded, and Bachchan eagerly embraced the new storytelling possibilities it offered. In Breathe: Into the Shadows, a web series, he portrayed a grieving father-turned-serial killer, delving into a psyche fractured by loss and mental illness. “Streaming gives you time to unravel a character’s psyche. You can’t do that in a two-hour film,” he explains, appreciating the creative latitude of long-form content, and how it is more conducive to his style of acting. 

Anurag Basu’s Ludo (2020), an ensemble dark comedy, saw him as a morally ambiguous ex-con who lands in a goofy situation; Dasvi (2022) had him playing an uneducated, crooked politician who finds enlightenment in prison. Neither role screamed “commercial blockbuster,” and that was exactly the point. “I’m drawn to discomfort. If a script doesn’t scare me, it’s not worth doing,” Bachchan says. He actively seeks projects that push him outside the comfort zone. In R Balki’s Ghoomer (2023), he took on the role of a gruff, cricket coach mentoring a disabled female prodigy – a nuanced performance, leagues away from typical leading-man fare. And in the follow-up project I Want to Talk, he portrays a cancer survivor grappling with life’s second chances. These recent choices have cemented Abhishek’s reputation for selecting roles that challenge societal norms and showcase a fearless range. He reflects the sure-footedness of an actor who has found his groove by refusing to play it safe. 

Startup 101

“If I don’t emotionally invest, it becomes a job. And I’m not interested in jobs.” 

While many Bollywood A-listers are content with cashing in on luxury brand endorsements, Bachchan’s investment portfolio reads more like a venture capitalist’s vision board. He has backed a blockchain platform called Ziddu (way back in 2015, long before crypto was cool), bet on the hyper-local delivery startup Zepto, put money into Swiggy’s cloud-kitchen expansion, and even co-owns a desi hot sauce brand, Naagin, born from a couple of Bandra boys’ kitchen. These aren’t the typical glitzy endorsements one might expect from a movie star – they’re gritty, ground-up business bets. And each one, he insists, started from personal passion. “I serve Naagin sauce to everyone at home,” he laughs. If Abhishek Bachchan is involved: “It all starts with heart,” he says. “If I don’t feel it, I won’t touch it.” This ethos threads through everything from his two-decade association with Omega watches to a clothing collaboration you had probably never heard of. For nearly 20 years, Bachchan has been a brand ambassador for Omega, and it wasn’t just a paycheck for him. “I wear an Omega watch every day,” he says matter-of-factly. 

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None of this is to say he’s a naive idealist diving into businesses on pure emotion. “Passion blinds you,” he admits. “You have to pivot. A robust business plan isn’t optional – it’s survival.” In venture meetings, when his enthusiasm for an idea runs high, his partners aren’t afraid to pull him back to earth, opening spreadsheets and reminding him of market realities. He’s learned to welcome that grounding force. “You learn to balance,” Bachchan says, describing how he merges instinct with analysis. Ultimately, whether it’s choosing a film script or a startup investment, Abhishek Bachchan boils it down to a simple litmus test: “Can I contribute? If yes, jump in. If not, walk away.”  That principle has guided him well, and it’s shaping what he does next, both on-screen and off. 

Real Estate Mogul

“It’s a tough business, but that’s what makes it thrilling.” he says about real estate. The Bachchan family has long believed in the gospel of property ownership. “My father’s generation always believed land is the only true asset,” he says. “That’s something I’ve always heard growing up. And I believe it too. Just… not blindly.” Unlike many peers who simply park their wealth in safe property investments and call it a day, Abhishek dives into the nitty-gritty of the real estate game with the curiosity of a developer and the shrewdness of an investor. He approaches buying property with intense analysis and a feel for the bigger picture, in contrast to his investment progression. “There are too many variables. It’s never just about location,” he explains, eyes lighting up as he rattles off factors. “You ask – what’s coming up around it? A school? A metro station? Is this area about to turn into a residential hotspot? Could this be the tipping point that changes the fortunes of a neighbourhood?” He doesn’t romanticise ownership. “Land appreciates, sure. But you can’t over-leverage. It’s not liquid. It’s not easy. And it’s definitely not simple,” he says, tempering enthusiasm with caution.

Flipping properties, for him, is part puzzle, part passion – a pursuit driven as much by gut instinct as by spreadsheets. “I enjoy it. It intrigues me,” he adds. “There are so many different reasons why stuff happens in real estate.” Despite his zest for it, Bachchan is clear-eyed about real estate’s role in his overall financial picture. “It’ll never be the bulk of my portfolio. It’s just too capital-intensive,” he shrugs. 

That analytical lens also gives him a front-row view of how preferences are evolving between generations. “The younger lot doesn't want to be anchored. They want Airbnbs, not assets,” he observes, referencing the rise of the rent-and-roam lifestyle. He points to his niece Navya and nephew Agastya as examples of a mindset shift. “They’d rather Uber than buy a car. They’d rather hotel-hop than maintain a house. They’re not lazy; they’re liberated.” He sees it not as a rejection of responsibility, but a rerouting of it – today’s youth would rather invest in experiences, education, or startups than tie up all their capital in a mortgage. “It’s so different from how we were brought up,” he reflects, “but it makes sense. The world’s changed.” 

The Kabaddi Revolution

Abhishek Bachchan’s tryst with kabaddi happened in his childhood. After watching his father play the game in a film (Ganga Ki Saugandh), he became obsessed. “My father taught me kabaddi in our backyard after I saw that film,” he recalls fondly. Decades later, that early love would come full circle. One evening, Bachchan found himself at a local kabaddi tournament in Vile Parle, Mumbai, surrounded by thousands of roaring fans. “The energy was electric,” he remembers. As athletes grappled under the floodlights, Bachchan felt that childhood thrill surge back. “When I walked into that arena with 10,000 people screaming, I knew we had to get involved,” he says. Within months, he’d acquired the Jaipur Pink Panthers franchise in the brand-new Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), making him the first Hindi film star to become an owner in what was traditionally seen as a grassroots sport. 

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At the time, many questioned the move as a fleeting vanity project. Sceptics wondered if Bollywood glamour could really mix with a mud-and-sweat game like kabaddi. But Bachchan was betting on the underdog. Once on board, he immersed himself fully. Bachchan personally mentored his players on handling media pressure—often filming mock interviews with a handycam to train them for the spotlight.

Yet for him, the league’s success was never abouttrophies or TV ratings. A young player, awestruck by the automated curtains in his hotel suite, spent hours gleefully playing with the remote. Bachchan laughs about that anecdote: that simple joy shows how far these boys had come. “Today, those kids are rockstars with millions of followers,” he says, reflecting on how dramatically PKL changed their lives. Indeed, in just a few years, PKL exploded in popularity—now it’s India’s second-most-watched league after the mighty IPL—and kabaddi has been rebranded as aspirational.  

“You start with love, but then you need a robust business plan,” he explains of his approach. “I’m not just the owner; I’m the first fan,” he likes to say, emphasising that he cares about the sport and his players above all else. That balance of emotion and enterprise has paid off: the Pink Panthers clinched the inaugural PKL title in 2014, and for Bachchan, that was just the beginning. 

Lessons from the ISL 

Within hours of that maiden PKL championship, Bachchan was already eyeing his next big venture. In fact, he caught a red-eye flight to Rome the very night of the kabaddi finals to sign Italian football legend Marco Materazzi as head coach for a new team he was co-founding: Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League (ISL). “Nobody really knew if it would work. It was a bit of a risk, but we had to try,” he says of jumping into the nascent football league. By then, PKL’s success had rewired his confidence. “I knew I could run a team,” he says – so why not another, in an entirely different sport?

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Chennaiyin FC tested that confidence immediately. In their 2015 season, the Chennai franchise languished at the bottom of the table for weeks. But Bachchan, now well acquainted with sports’ ups and downs, held his nerve. “Sports teaches you to never quit,” he reflects. Against all odds, the team clawed its way from last place to the finals, ultimately losing the championship by a whisker but gaining something perhaps more valuable: a lesson in perseverance. “Success is often just around the corner when you feel like quitting. So, never quit,” he says, echoing the grit that the season instilled in him. “If you believe in the why, the how follows,” he says. For Bachchan, every new venture – whether a film role, a kabaddi club, or a football franchise – must answer a basic question: “can I contribute something meaningful?” That sense of purpose is his North Star. 

Striking a Balance 

Abhishek Bachchan’s portfolio today spans everything from ultra-safe government bonds to a tongue-tingling hot sauce startup. But ask him about his investment strategy, and you won’t hear much about chasing trends or timing the market. What you’ll hear about is belief. “If I enjoy it and it’s something I would use, then I try and get the whole world to use it,” he says, half in jest but entirely in earnest. That emotional buy-in is his north star—whether he’s backing a niche condiment born in a Bandra kitchen or greenlighting an OTT series exploring a father-daughter bond. He has little patience for anything that feels like “just a job.” “I’m not interested in jobs,” he shrugs. “If I don’t emotionally invest, it just becomes work. And I’ve never done well with that.” That ethos has guided every entrepreneurial move he’s made. 

Of course, passion alone doesn’t pay the bills, and Bachchan is savvy enough to hedge his bets. Through his family office, he makes sure to balance the high-risk, high-heart investments with safer, steadier instruments. Fixed deposits, blue-chip stocks, government bonds – those boring anchors are all in place. “You have to hedge everything,” he notes. Real estate, with its slow churn and tangible heft, provides a sense of security and weight to his portfolio. Naagin hot sauce, on the other hand, is the proverbial fire in a bottle – volatile, exciting, and potentially explosive. “You don’t know how big something will get – but you believe in it. That’s enough,” he says with a grin.

What ties all his ventures together isn’t vanity or greed, but impact. Bachchan lights up most when he talks about the human side of his successes. He recounts a few moments that mean more to him than any box-office record or ROI calculation. “For two or three hours, you made someone forget their problems. That’s a gift,” he says, humbled by the thought. “If I can make even a minuscule difference, through something I’ve acted in or invested in… that's enough.”  

New Frontiers 

Talk to Abhishek Bachchan for long, and inevitably new ideas crop up. Lately, a popular topic among the elite is the rise of paddle and pickleball. These racket sports have been garnering immense popularity across gated communities and Instagram feeds alike. Bachchan grins when the subject comes up. “I love paddle,” he says, almost boyishly. Fun fact: it was none other than his friend Shah Rukh Khan who taught him how to play the game. But ask if he’s about to launch a professional paddle league, and he draws a polite but firm line between passion and participation. “It’s great fun. It’s even great that it got a whole generation back on the court,” he notes. “But league potential? I’m not so sure.” He elaborates that individual-centric sports don’t easily translate into city-based league formats. “Who do you root for? The player? The brand?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. Tennis leagues have faltered for this very reason – fans follow players across global tournaments, not city teams. “For a league to click, you need that tribal loyalty – like Chennaiyin FC, or MI in cricket. Paddle doesn’t lend itself to that kind of identity,” he explains. He genuinely hopes these new-age sports thrive in India, but as far as business goes, “It just won’t be my next move,” he is categorical. 

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That next move, as it turns out, is already unfolding on another continent. “I was in Dublin last week,” Bachchan reveals. “After a decade of running teams, I finally felt ready to take a leap into cricket – but this time, not as a team owner. That’s too much. I’ve got three teams already. This time, I’ve invested in a league.” He is referring to the European T20 Premier League, an ICC-sanctioned venture launching this summer. It’s a brand-new playground for him, comprising six teams from Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands. The league will span cities like Belfast, Edinburgh, Rotterdam and Amsterdam – markets where cricket has flirted with popularity but never fully seduced the masses. “That’s where I come in,” he says with a confident smile. “Not just with capital, but with experience, with structure. These are non-traditional cricket hubs, and maybe I can help turn curiosity into culture.” It’s classic Bachchan: a blend of instinct and impact, a calculated risk. “Anything fun is going to be challenging,” he shrugs. “But if I feel I can make a difference, I’m in.” In backing a European cricket league, he isn’t just expanding his portfolio – he’s exporting his philosophy of reinvention to a whole new arena. 

Unfinished Legacy 

At 48, Abhishek Bachchan shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, he insists he’s just getting started. “My father’s 83 and still shoots 18-hour days,” Abhishek marvels. “How could I ever be done?” It’s a rhetorical question, of course – one that underscores his core philosophy that you’re only as good as your next adventure. For him, legacy is not a destination but a daily act of defiance against complacency. Every time he ventures into something new, he’s essentially saying the story isn’t over yet. 

From kabaddi’s dusty arenas to the boardrooms of disruptive startups, Bachchan’s trajectory truly defies categorisation. He’s neither bound by the weight of lineage nor seduced by the ephemeral glitter of fame. Instead, he operates in the intersections – where art meets analytics, tradition collides with innovation, and success is measured as much in impact as in accolades. In a world that loves to slot people into neat labels, Abhishek Bachchan keeps rearranging the tags and sometimes tossing them out entirely. He stands today as a man in constant evolution – an actor who refuses to be typecast, a businessman who follows both his heart and mind, a sportsman at spirit who builds teams and breaks new ground, an actor who carries forward a towering legacy while simultaneously crafting his own. In refusing to ever consider his saga complete, he exemplifies reinvention as a way of life. It’s, in every sense, a renaissance done right. 

Credits:

Watch Partner: Omega

Editor: Shivangi Lolayekar

Photographs by Keegan Crasto, Public Butter India

Hair: Hakim’s Aalim

Makeup: Vinod Upadhyay

Stylist: Nikita Jaisinghani

Artist Reputation Management: Raindrop Media

Location: Creatorland 

On the cover

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Boots: Christian Louboutin