Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has said not one of the hundreds of films he had acted, would in substance, ever match the strength and value of writings of his late father Harivanshrai Bachchan.

''He has been my inspiration, my example and one I strive each day to emulate,'' Amitabh said.

''My father, acknowledged as a great Hindi poet, was the first Indian to do his PhD in English Literature from Cambridge. His thesis - WB Yeats and Occultism, gave him his doctorate in 1954,'' the actor has written in his blog.

''He prepared seven drafts of his thesis using pencil. The ink required for the job would have cost him a lot. And when he returned from England, instead of bringing us children the customary toys and games to play, he brought along the biggest and greatest gift I ever received from him--the seven pencilled drafts of his thesis,'' he recollects.

''This, Harivanshrai said with utmost pride, is all that I could afford to bring you. We have those drafts safely sealed and kept away as a testimony of his labour. Not one of the hundreds of films I have done will ever compare, or in substance ever match, the strength and value of those writings,'' says Amitabh.

Turning poetic, he said, ''My father's words teach me each day a new lesson --Jo beet gayi so baat gayi, Jeevan may ek sitara tha, Mana woh behad pyara tha, Woh toot gaya toh toot gaya. Amber ke aanan ko dekho, Kitne iske tare toote, Kitne iske pyare chhoote.

''Jo chhot gaye phir kahan mile Par poocho toote taron ka, Kab amber shok manata hai, Jo beet gayi so baat gayi. (What has happened has happened! In your life there was a star, Agreed that it was bright and beautiful. If it has broken today, it is broken!

Look at the courtyard of the sky, How many of its stars break away from it, How many of its stars leave it and go away. But of all the stars and loved ones the sky loses, Have you ever seen the sky mourning for them! What has happened has happened).''