Javed Akhtar reveals Prakash Mehra was scared before Zanjeer’s release as Amitabh Bachchan films were failing at box office: ‘Mere liye ye film bechna..’

Scriptwriter Javed Akhtar had to convince Prakash Mehra to cast Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role in Zanjeer as the actor was delivering one flop after another in those days.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: February 12, 2023 09:26 AM IST

4 min read

Zanjeer released in 1973.

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Prakash Mehra’s 1973 film Zanjeer gave Hindi cinema one of its biggest stars, Amitabh Bachchan. It was after this film that people started to know him as the ‘angry young man’. But his casting in the movie took some convincing from writer Javed Akhtar as the actor was delivering one flop after another in those days.

Recently, Javed Akhtar appeared on Arbaaz Khan’s chat show, The Invincibles with Arbaaz Khan, where he spoke about writing the script of Zanjeer with his screenwriting partner Salim Khan, selling the film to Prakash Mehra for an “unprecedented price of Rs 55,000” which was earlier owned by Dharmendra and convincing Mehra to cast Big B in the lead role. Akhtar shared that they had the script and the director and producer for Zanjeer, but they couldn’t finalise its lead actor.

“We had a director, we had a story and we had a producer, but we didn’t have an actor,” Akhtar revealed while explaining the reason why no actor was ready to do the movie. “Now that I think about it in retrospect, I can understand why. Because that was the time when Rajesh Khanna was God and music was the emperor,” the scriptwriter added. He further explained, “In those times, we made a film where the hero doesn’t romance, doesn’t sing songs and doesn’t do comedy. Pehle scene se aakhri scene tak, muh latkaaye ghumta rehta hai (From the first scene till the end, he is roaming around with a sad face). Ye hero unhone dekha hi nahi tha, aisa hero kabhi aaya hi nahi Hindi picture mein (Nobdoy had seen such a hero in a Hindi movie).”

Also read | How Salim Khan ensured his and Javed Akhtar’s name appear on Zanjeer’s poster: ‘Our names were on Amitabh’s nose, Jaya’s face’

However, Akhtar found his lead actor in Amitabh Bachchan after watching films like Bombay To Goa, Parwana and Raaste Ka Patthar. Though all the films flopped at the box office, Akhtar could see that Amitabh Bachchan is a “brilliant actor.” He told Zanjeer’s director-producer, “Ye maamuli actor nahi hai (He is not an ordinary actor). Let’s take him, he is a great actor.”

Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan posed with the whole team of Zanjeer. (Photo: Express Archive)

Akhtar added, “In today’s time, if two actors refuse a script, producer ko script se nafrat ho jaati hai (the producer starts hating the script). He will shut the film, he won’t make it. But Prakash ji kept listening to everyone’s refusal. And, finally, he took Amitabh Bachchan in the movie. He stood by the script and that actor.”

Also read | Revisiting Prakash Mehra’s Zanjeer: The film that made Amitabh Bachchan

But even during the making of Zanjeer, a few more movies of Big B were released that tanked at the box office. And, Prakash Mehra reminded Akhtar every time what he has done by convincing him for Amitabh. “He (Prakash Mehra) used to praise Amitabh but also reminded me that how difficult it is going for him to sell this film,” the scriptwriter shared.

Eventually, Zanjeer released in the theaters and became one of the biggest hits of the time. “This was the movie that gave us the real credit. It was a film which broke all the norms,” Akhtar said about the movie.

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In Zanjeer, Amitabh Bachchan essayed the role of a brooding policeman. His dialogue from the film, “Jab tak baithne ke liye na kaha jaaye, sharafat se khade raho,” became popular. The film also starred Jaya Bachchan and Pran in significant parts.

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