Abhishek Bachchan said he wore the Superman t-shirt for his Pa, to show him he was still standing tall.

Tall, indeed! At 63, Amitabh's broken free of his omnipresent-in-commercials and dozen-flops-last-year shackles, and stunned audiences repeatedly this year with big box-office successes and gameshow gimmickry.

Don't miss: Big B, the star of 2005

So, even as 04 had all but vanquished his star, 2005 saw him riding on successes, garnering critical raves and mucho moolah. The Big B was still all over the place but, this time, no one was complaining.

Instead, the country collectively held its breath as he was hospitalised. The diverticulitis operation brought back unpleasant Coolie memories, with terrible rumours doing the SMS rounds. After a fortnight of dominating front pages across India, Amitabh Bachchan walked out of hospital and waved.

The megastar is fine; India didn't pray in vain.