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Millennium star Amitabh Bachchan has achieved unparalleled success and is an iconic figure in the Indian film industry. Throughout his illustrious career spanning over five decades, Bachchan has delivered numerous box office blockbusters. Recently, he left everyone stunned with his impeccable performance in Kalki 2898 AD as the immortal Ashwatthama. The 82-year-old actor continues to run with the same energy and his 'hunger' to work remains the same as any other young actor.
It is a dream of almost every actor to work with Big B at least once in life. However, things were not the same when the 'Chora Ganga Kinare Wala' was a new entrant. Until Salim-Javed's Zanjeer, Babu Moshai faced a string of failures and struggled a lot to establish himself. However, did you know no actress wanted to work with Amitabh in a movie that later went on to become a superhit flick?
Zanjeer: The Game-Changer
1973's Zanjeer, helmed by Prakash Mehra, was a turning point in Big B's career. This movie written by the iconic writer duo Salim-Javed established him as a lead actor and marked the beginning of his journey as the 'Angry Young Man.' The gripping storyline, powerful dialogues and Bachchan's stellar performance made him a star overnight. Though his performance was appreciated in Anand with Rajesh Khanna and Bombay To Goa, he tasted multiple failures. Thus, no actress wanted to work with this tall man with a deep baritone voice.
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Top Actresses turned down offer of working with Bachchan!
Recently, Salim-Javed disclosed that no top actress of the time wanted to share screen space with Bachchan. They turned down the offer.
Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar in their documentary series 'Angry Young Men', streaming on Prime Video, disclosed about it after 52 years.
Film with No Comedy, Song or Romance
During their conversation with filmmaker Farah Khan, the writer duo said that Zanjeer was a game-changer film. Before Zanjeer, movies had comedies, action movies, drama movies, and songs. However, Zanjeer had no songs or comedy.
Further, they revealed that everyone was confused about what they were trying to do with the film as it had no songs or comedies. The writer duo also said that when they discussed Zanjeer's story with a producer, he reacted by saying that his time was wasted.
Well, then revolutionary writers also said that Zanjeer was rejected multiple times but acknowledged that the 'most rejected' film became a super hit.
Actors who rejected Zanjeer's Offer
Further, the writers revealed that top actors of the time including Dilip Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand, Dharmendra and Rajkumar had turned down the offer of the movie.
Interestingly, Evergreen Actor Dev Anand rejected the offer as the movie had no songs and the script didn't have enough romantic scenes, which were key elements of his previous movies.
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Similarly, Rajesh Khanna, who was the reigning superstar and was more loved as a romantic hero, found the script too violent and had no romantic angles.
Dilip Kumar and Dharmendra were also reportedly not comfortable with the script and found Vijay Khanna's character complex, intense, and lacking in depth. They were also concerned about the film's commercial success as the hero wouldn't smile, romance, dance and sing songs.
Jaya Bhaduri Took Up the Offer after...
Moreover, no top actress of the time showed interest in the movie as well.
Akhtar said that after they signed Amitabh Bachchan, actresses turned down the offer of sharing screen space with the 'flop' actor. Finally, Jaya Bhaduri (Bachchan) agreed to work in the film, who had already established herself in the industry.
The 'Angry Young Man' Amitabh Bachchan
However, the angry and aggressive character of Vijay Khanna landed with Amitabh Bachchan. With his powerful character portrayal, Bachchan made the character iconic and the film became a huge success. The industry got its 'Angry Young Man' and Bachchan never looked back after Zanjeer.
