Amitabh Bachchan can't get over that sight on his birthday night - hordes and hordes of fans standing outside his bungalow till 3 in the morning, refusing to budge.

"It was unbelievable! My family and close friends were sitting together till quite late in the night. People outside the gate just kept standing, hordes and hordes of them. It was overwhelming. I kept going out to meet them at half-hour intervals. But it just wasn't enough," Bachchan told IANS.

On his birthday Oct 11, the superstar who turned 63 shot non-stop for "Kaun Banega Crorepati" (KBC) and then was up most of the night receiving greetings from friends and fans.

"It was very, very hectic, very emotional. The things they do to prove their love for me! It's scary. Because the only way I can repay their love is through my work. And I wonder if that's enough! My phone stopped functioning! I could see numbers flashing but I couldn't receive calls after a point.

"It was very tough to get out in the morning to go to work. There were thousands of people outside. I had to somehow leave for KBC. At the studio, it was a jamboree. STAR had organised all kinds of wonderful events. We had to record two episodes. So it was like juggling a number of events together."

What about the birthday bash that a section of the media mentioned? "There was no plan for a party, as far as I knew. I later got to know that Jaya and Abhishek had planned something. But we had to cancel it due to the earthquakes. It would've been insensitive to celebrate when so many thousands are suffering. My well-wishers are the ones who make my birthdays special. If they are in a dire situation how could I celebrate?"

The Big B lights up at the mention of the enthusiasm shown by the KBC team for his birthday.

"They had lit up and decorated the entire studio like a dream. Every area, from my makeup room to the set, was decorated. The whole place was done up with huge flower trees and Christmas trees with candles lit all over. It was just so, so, so beautiful...I felt I had entered a different world...Every year people surprise me more and more with their love and enthusiasm. I'm blessed. Ab bahut ho gaya."

The TV channels played stories on Bachchan's lifestyle. "So I believe. I couldn't watch it. But so-called information about my huge car, watch and pen collections were all highly exaggerated...Where have I got 11 cars? I'm glad they want me to own so many cars. I wish I could."

And he was overwhelmed by his fans.

A man called Soni had cycled all the way from Delhi to meet his idol on his birthday. "I met him on my birthday. Then I met him again this morning. He had gone to great lengths...written such beautiful words. I was overwhelmed."

The morning after the birthday, he was up bright and early, ready to face another grinding schedule.

Bachchan rushed off to dub, and then inaugurate Yash Chopra's swanky new hi-tech studio with the legendary Lata Mangeshkar. "It's always a pleasure to share a platform with Lataji. And when it's for someone whom we both are so fond of (Yash Chopra) then the pleasure is double."

Then he was to fly off to Bikaner to complete the shooting of Vinod Chopra's "Eklavya". "Where do I get the energy to work so much? Now you know. It comes from my well-wishers," he says as he rushes off for another day of crammed commitments.