The 1973 action crime drama Zanjeer was rejected by Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar and Dev Anand. Javed Akhtar, who had co-written the film with Salim Khan, recently revealed that even Amitabh Bachchan was doubtful before signing it.
Amitabh Bachchan began his career in 1969 with Saat Hindustani and his performance as the supporting actor in the 1971 emotional drama Anand was highly appreciated. However, in the next two years, the actor saw multiple flops and also had decided to leave acting and go back to his hometown in Allahabad, now Prayagraj. But, then came Zanjeer and his life was changed.
The 1973 crime drama, directed by Prakash Mehra and written by Salim-Javed, was rejected by many superstars including Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar and Dev Anand as the film's lead was an 'Angry Young Man', which was against the 'romantic hero' image dominant in the film industry at that time. Javed Akhtar recently revealed that even Amitabh Bachchan was doubtful before signing the film.
Speaking at the recently conducted session titled 'From a reader to screenwriter' at IFP, Javed recalled, "I went to his (Amitabh's) place. I told him, ‘Let me give you the script (of Zanjeer) and make you meet the producer. You don’t discuss any terms and conditions with him. Just do the film in whatever way possible'. He asked for a narration. I gave him a narration. I still remember very clearly that he looked at me in wonder. He said, 'Do you think I can pull off this role?' Because till then, he was playing only poet and doctor and writer and so on. So he said, 'Can I do this?' Then I told him, 'Nobody can do it better than you.'"
Amitabh Bachchan in Zanjeer
Zanjeer turned out to be blockbuster earning Rs 6 crore gross in India and its worldwide gross earnings were Rs 17.46 crore. After Zanjeer, Amitabh Bachchan carried on the 'Angry Young Man' persona in the 1970s and never looked back. He is one of the biggest superstars in Indian cinema today, and his most recent film Kalki 2898 AD has collected over Rs 1000 crore globally.
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