Abhishek Bachchan made his screen debut in the year 2000, opposite Kareena Kapoor, in the J. P. Dutta-directed war drama Refugee. However, his first solo hit came in 2007, with Guru, for which he also received much acclaim for his performance.

The actor has his share of awards - in 2010, he won his first National Film Award (as a producer) for Paa which also won the Best Feature Film in Hindi Award. He has won the Best Supporting Actor at the Filmfare Awards for three consecutive years for Yuva (2004), Sarkar (2005) and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (2006). Oh, and did you know he was also named the Sexiest Man in Asia by the UK magazine 'Eastern Eye'?

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He had got engaged to Karisma Kapoor in 2002. However, it was mutually broken off three months down the line, without any explanations by both parties. In an interview, Jaya Bachchan stated that neither of the families was responsible for the engagement being called off, but in fact, it was Abhishek's decision—which he had painfully taken on his own. It was suggested that it was Karisma’s mother Babita’s insistence on a prenup to safeguard her daughter’s financial interests, that led to the split.

Another interesting tidbit - Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan hold the Guinness World record for being the only father-son duo to have played reversed roles on-screen in Paa (2009).

Abhishek suffered from dyslexia, a learning disability when he was a child. To his credit, he never tried to hide this fact but thought it important to share his story and promote learning disability awareness groups, which support children with learning disabilities. He also played a part in the creation of fellow Bollywood star Aamir Khan’s film Taare Zameen Par, which follows a young, dyslexic boy struggling through school.

The actor once had a spell of 17 flops before a hit finally came his way. He reveals that when visiting a theatre to gauge his audience’s reaction to his film, he was even slapped by a lady for his lack of acting skills! “It was a game-changing moment in my life. I almost thought of quitting. After all, it's not great to fail when you have a superstar waiting for you at home.” However, his father guided him back to the camera and encouraged him to try harder. “The journey to discovering yourself begins with confidence and introspection,” he believes.