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When Amitabh Bachchan commented on remakes, Shah Rukh Khan taking on role of Don: ‘They will say SRK was the original Don’

An old interview of Bollywood's Shahenshah Amitabh Bachchan has resurfaced, catching the attention of netizens as he talks candidly about the practice of remaking hit movies.

Shah Rukh Khan as Don in director Farhan Akhtar's 2006 film and Amitabh Bachchan as Don in the original 1978 film, directed by Chandra Barot. (Images: Express Archives)

The reluctance to create original movies and the eagerness to cash in on the success of films from other languages by remaking them have already earned Bollywood the nickname “Remakewood.” Un/fortunately, these remakes found success for a long time, helping the industry stay afloat in troubled waters, until a few years ago. However, with the massive debacle of Sarfira (2024), a remake of the Tamil film Soorarai Pottru (2020), it is clear that even this strategy is becoming less viable for Bollywood, which is already ailing due to back-to-back flops. While remakes have long been a mainstay in Indian cinema, critics have been condemning the industry’s overreliance on them and its lack of interest in producing original content.

As a few more South Indian remakes, such as Mrs, the official remake of the Malayalam drama The Great Indian Kitchen (2021), are set to hit the screens, an old interview of Bollywood’s Shahenshah Amitabh Bachchan has resurfaced, catching the attention of netizens as he talks candidly about the practice. Mentioning that it’s fine to remake movies, Big B told Rediff in a 2011 interview that those who own the rights to a work should have the liberty to do what they want.

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“I haven’t thought about working in any remake or producing a remake. I don’t think Abhishek has thought about it because we both feel that an original should be left an original,” said Bachchan, who has also bankrolled several projects under the banner of his Amitabh Bachchan Corporation (formerly Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited – ABCL), or AB Corp.

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“So many times when journalists question me on this I say that there was a generation that loved KL Saigal doing Devdas, then we had Dilip saab (Dilip Kumar) doing Devdas — in my eyes that was the ultimate Devdas — but today’s generation feels that Shah Rukh Khan is the correct Devdas. So with each generation, as you keep remaking that product, you will identify with it,” he added.

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It may be recalled that several of Amitabh Bachchan’s blockbuster films, including Deewaar (1975), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Kasme Vaade (1978), Trishul (1978), Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978), Suhaag (1979), Dostana (1980), Naseeb (1981), Laawaris (1981), Namak Halaal (1982), Sharaabi (1984), Mard (1985), Namak Haraam (1973), Majboor (1974), Mili (1975), Kaalia (1981) and Agneepath (1990), among others, have been remade in various languages. Bachchan himself has acted in several Bollywood remakes of regional films. At the same time, one of his most frequently remade blockbusters is director Chandra Barot’s Don (1978), written by Salim–Javed. In addition to being remade in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam, the film was rebooted by Javed Akhtar’s son Farhan Akhtar in 2006 with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role. Although many were initially sceptical of SRK’s ability to do justice to the character, given his reputation for playing romantic roles, the new Don too became iconic and even received a sequel in 2011, Don 2.

“Tomorrow, you never know, they will say that the original Don was Shah Rukh Khan! But the original Don was made with (director) Chandra Barot and me. These things will change with each generation, but an original will always be original,” Big B pointed out. It’s also worth mentioning that director Farhan Akhtar has already announced a new project in the Don franchise, titled Don 3, with Ranveer Singh taking over the titular role from Shah Rukh Khan.

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