When Rishi Kapoor admitted there was ‘tension’ between him and Amitabh Bachchan, said Big B never acknowledged his advantages

Reflecting on his issues with Bachchan, Rishi pointed out that the action genre was the most popular at the time, which played to Amitabh’s strengths and led to him securing the more substantial roles. Rishi explained, “I must confess there is still a lingering issue I have with Amitabh Bachchan. A big disadvantage of working in an all-star movie in those days was that everybody only wanted to make action films, which automatically meant that the star who could carry off action with the most flair would get the meatiest part.” He added, “Directors and writers unfailingly reserved their strongest, pivotal roles for Amitabh Bachchan. And it wasn’t just me. Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna faced it too.”

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Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor were last seen together in 2018 dramedy 102 Not Out. (Photo: PR Handout)

Despite this, Rishi acknowledged Bachchan’s undeniable skills as an actor but stressed that others were equally capable. He wrote, “Amitabh is undeniably a superb actor, immensely talented and, at the time, the number one star who ruled the box-office. He was an action hero, the angry young man. So roles were written for him. Although we may have been smaller stars, we were not lesser actors. Yet, the rest of us had to constantly measure up to him. Amitabh was an action hero in an era of action films. This gave him an advantage over the rest of us who had to make our presence felt with whatever we got.”

Rishi also highlighted how Amitabh would often credit writers and directors for his success but rarely his co-stars. “This is something that Amitabh has never ever admitted to, in any interview or book. He has never given due credit to the actors who have worked with him… Shashi Kapoor in Deewaar (1975), Rishi Kapoor in Amar Akbar Anthony and Coolie or Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha and Dharmendra all contributed to the success of his films where they shared credit with him, even if in secondary roles. This is something no one has realized or acknowledged. But it was the way things were and we accepted it gracefully. Not because we considered ourselves inferior actors but because tedha sikka chal raha tha (that was the coin of the day). It cannot happen today,” he expressed in the book.