A day before he turned 83, Amitabh Bachchan's X post in the early hours of dawn seemed enigmatic. "It took two years to learn to speak; and 80 years to learn to stay silent," went the entry tagged T 5527.

For the actor whose baritone redefined on-screen machismo back in the day, the post sounds ironic. Speech -- on screen, at least -- is the asset that primarily catapulted him to unprecedented superstardom, and Amitabh Bachchan's latest contention on X sure leaves you guessing. Is the post an amused assertion coming from a man who has been there, seen it all? Or is it simply to be interpreted as one reads it: Learning to speak takes two years as a child, but to know when to remain silent is something that one learns over a lifetime. Maybe, that bit of wisdom is Big B's birthday wish to his fans.

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But we'll let the conjectures be.

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