Many actors who make blockbuster debuts, fail to maintain their stardom and later leave industry after giving flops. One such actor, who was accused of ‘copying’ Amitabh Bachchan, left the industry after 17 flops.
The actor we are talking about is called a star, and despite having more flops than hits in Bollywood, he is still called a star. He is a television star, Mukesh Khanna.
Mukesh Khanna made his debut in Bollywood with Roohi in 1981 which was a super hit. After his first film was a hit, Mukesh Khanna went on to sign 10-15 films in one go. However, only a few of them released and all were flops. Later, in 1988, he became a star on television with his role of Bhishma in Mahabharata and Shaktimaan and Gangadhar in the show Shaktimaan.
In a recent interview with Bollywood Thikana, Mukesh Khanna recalled how Amitabh Bachchan accused him of copying him and said, “Media once called Mithun Chakraborty, ‘Gareebo ka Amitabh Bachchan.’ I don’t know how he reacted but if I was told that, I would’ve said, ‘Shut up.’ They would say, ‘You look like Amit ji, you copy him.’ A string of my films flopped which is why people said that. Here, only success speaks the loudest. When Mahabharat happened, no one gave me a label of Amitabh Bachchan, which happened a lot during my film career. People would say, ‘You weren’t successful because you look like him and now that Amitabh Bachchan himself said that you copy him, your career is over.”
While recalling knowing about Amitabh's thoughts about copying him, Mukesh said, “He (Amitabh Bachchan) did say that, but will I be a flop because of that? Amit ji kaun hain jo mere career ko rok sakte hai? (Amit ji can’t stop my career). A friend of mine had told me how he was watching a film with Amit ji. It was a drive-in theatre, and he was on the bonnet. When my ad came, he saw it and said, ‘Saala copy karta hai.’ Years late, some YouTubers took the quote and wrote, ‘Amit ji’s one line destroyed my career.’ Every actor is inspired by some other– Manoj Kumar, and Rajendra Kumar were inspired by Dilip Kumar, and Shah Rukh is heavily inspired by Dilip saab too. Even the initial roles of Amitabh Bachchan were inspired and why not, because you take in from what you see. There is nothing in that But if you do mimicry in your films, then you will be destroyed. Which is what I didn’t do.”
He continued to do films despite giving flops. According to Box Office India, Mukesh Khanna gave 17 back-to-back flops from 2000-2018 and later left the industry. He now stays connected with his audience through his YouTube channel and often shares his reviews of recent films.
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