25 Years of Mohabbatein: When Amitabh Bachchan returned to glory with a Re 1 role

It’s been 25 years since Mohabbatein - Aditya Chopra’s 2000 musical-romantic drama under Yash Raj Films - lit up theatres and hearts alike. With an ensemble led by Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Aishwarya Rai, the film not only ruled the box office but also defined a cinematic era of emotional storytelling and grandeur.

Loosely inspired by Dead Poets Society (1989), the film was made on a budget of around Rs 13-19 crore and grossed nearly Rs 90 crore, emerging as the highest-grossing Indian film of 2000. It swept major awards that year and remains a cultural touchstone for Bollywood fans.

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But Mohabbatein wasn’t just a blockbuster - it was also the movie that resurrected Amitabh Bachchan’s career when he was facing one of the darkest phases of his life. 

When the Empire Fell: ABCL’s Collapse and Bachchan’s Crisis

The 1990s began promisingly for the Bachchans. Even though Amitabh Bachchan had announced a semi-retirement in 1993, he channelled his energy into building the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) - a bold venture in entertainment, event management, and film production. ABCL found early success with Tere Mere Sapne (1996) and managed the Miss World 1996 pageant in Bengaluru. But poor financial management soon led to disaster.

By 1999, the company had collapsed under debts of Rs 90 crore with over 50 lawsuits against it. To make matters worse, Bachchan’s films were failing both critically and commercially.

“I had a huge financial failure” 

Recalling that turbulent phase, Bachchan admitted at an India Today event in 2016, “I had a huge financial failure in the corporation that I began. It went bankrupt and it bankrupted me. You sit back and think ‘What can I do?’ and I said, ‘You are an actor. Go back to acting so, that’s what I did.’”

Desperate but determined, he walked into Yash Chopra’s office and said, “Look, I don’t have a job, nobody is giving me work anymore, my movies aren’t working, and I’ve come to ask you to please give me a film to work in.”

The Re 1 Comeback

Yash Chopra, who had earlier directed Bachchan in classics like Deewar, Trishul, and Silsila, offered him the role of Narayan Shankar in Mohabbatein - the stern patriarch opposite Shah Rukh Khan’s idealistic teacher.

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When Chopra asked about his acting fee, Bachchan famously replied, “You gave me what I asked for back then, this time, I’ll do the film for Re 1.”

That symbolic Re 1 role didn’t just earn him accolades - it marked the rebirth of a megastar. Mohabbatein restored Bachchan’s cinematic glory, paving the way for his second innings, including hits like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Baghban, and Black.