Shatrughan Sinha says Yash Chopra was in a ‘dilemma’ while casting him in Kaala Patthar: ‘His actors did not want me’

Sinha added that Salim Javed, who were the writers of the film, wrote the part of Mangal Singh with him in mind and insisted that Chopra cast Sinha. “Yash Chopra was in a dilemma. A lot of his actors did not want me to do the film,” he recalled. Sinha shared that when the director came to meet him, he spoke about punctuality and discipline before he spoke about the film, which irked the Kalicharan actor. “Itna bada established star tha main,” he said.

Shatrughan recalled that soon after this meeting, Salim Khan, of Salim-Javed duo, came to see him. “He made me promise that no matter what happens, don’t leave this film, this will be a gamechanger for you.” He further recalled Salim’s words, “He said. ‘They will try that you don’t do this film for some or the other reason – for money, punctuality, dates, cooperation. No matter what they say, you just agree with them. You don’t give them a chance. This will be a cult film and people will always remember you’. I give a lot of credit for Kaala Patthar to Salim saab.”

Shatrughan Sinha, in his memoir, had earlier revealed that a fight scene between his and Amitabh Bachchan’s characters was dramatically changed while filming Kaala Patthar. During the narration, it was supposed to be an equal fight but during the shoot, it changed into Bachchan “beating the hell out of” Sinha until Shashi Kapoor’s character intervened. Sinha put his foot down and this stopped the shoot for 3-4 hours which irked Bachchan.

Sinha and Bachchan later worked together in Dostana.