‘Amitabh Bachchan’s dialogues by Salim-Javed inspired people during Emergency,’ Akhilendra Mishra recalls noticing ‘visible change’ in youngsters

Actor Akhilendra Mishra spoke about the impact Amitabh Bachchan and Salim-Javed had on his generation during the Emergency.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | April 5, 2025 01:40 PM IST

3 min read

Amitabh Bachchan and Salim-Javed collaborated on more than 10 projects.

Amitabh Bachchan is known as one of the best actors of Indian cinema. Over the course of a 55-year-long career that started with Saat Hindustani, Bachchan has appeared in many iconic films like Deewar, Sholay, Don, Zanjeer among many others. In the 1970s, he was known as the ‘angry young man’ because of the characters he portrayed on screen that were written by Salm-Javed. Talking about the impact of Bachchan’s ‘angry young man’ on the masses, actor Akhilendra Mishra said that his dialogues in the movies, that were released during the period of Emergency, directly appealed to those who found the establishment to be unjust. The character of Vijay was also known to be an anti-establishment figure.

In an appearance on the Friday Talkies, Akhilendra talked about how people were inspired by Bachchan and said, “In that era, Amitabh Bachchan’s movies were coming one after another, and we used to wear clothes just like him: the shirt with the big collar and size 36 bottoms. I can say with confidence that the inclination towards being in films for my generation, the one before me and the one after, was because of Amitabh, whether it was to be an actor, writer, director or an editor. If anyone denies that and says that it’s not him, they are lying.”

He also mentioned how Salim-Javed’s dialogues played a huge part in shaping the mindset of the society at that time. “At the time of the JP movement and Emergency, cinema had a big impact on society. The younger generation, including us, used to relate with the ‘angry young man’ that was created by Salim-Javed, and both of them changed the entire pattern for the Indian film industry. People were suffering through the Emergency and then were going to watch a Bachchan film the very next day. The writing had a lot to do with what was going on; there was a visible change in the younger generation, and people grew up with that newly developed mindset,” said the actor.

Bachchan starred in several films that came out in 1975, including Deewar, Sholay, Chupke Chupke, among others.

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