PIX: Have you noticed Amitabh Bachchan's eyes before?

Back in 2004, when Abhishek Bachchan was a rising star, he appeared on Karan Johar's chat show Koffee With Karan with Preity Zinta.

Abhishek, who was often quizzed about why he didn't bulk up (like his contemporaries), shared some wisdom his legendary father had passed on to him.

It didn't matter what clothes you wore or how your body looked if you knew how to use your eyes, Pa told Abhishek.

There is something inherently magnetic about Amitabh Bachchan's eyes and he knows it.

It was the eyes that made us shift in our seats with excitement every time he lunged at villains as the angry young man and reduced us to tears when he silently wept as the troubled father in some of his later films.

On October 11, when he met with the media on his 71st birthday, the eyes were as alive as ever, beguiling and earnest.

Here then, is a look at Amitabh Bachchan's many moods, as translated by those eyes.

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In a rare shot, he lets us in on his dark side with a piercing gaze.

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In this picture posted on his Instagram account, the younger Amitabh is caught in a moment of quiet reflection as his eyes wander into the distance and beyond.

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Lending his fiery onscreen intensity to the movie poster, he made quite an impact in his 1981 hit, Naseeb.

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As the comical and often clumsy Arjun, Amitabh gave one of his most entertaining performances in Prakash Mehra's 1982 multi-starrer comedy, Namak Halal.

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The super-superstar showcases his fun side for a memorable photograph shot by Avinash Gowariker.

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Another striking picture he posted on his Instagram feed.

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Deewar's Vijay -- who cites his troubled childhood to justify his dubious occupation with admirable conviction -- caught in a moment of slight self-doubt.

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As the sensitive, yet jealous, Subir, Amitabh lends credibility to his Abhimaan character with his those questioning eyes.

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As the pessimist Bhaskar Banerjee in another iconic Hrishikesh Mukherjee film, he conveys the pain of a man about to lose his closest friend in Anand.