New Delhi. Zanjeer is going to complete 50 years of its release. The film itself is historical. This film changed the trend of Bollywood. The reason behind this is that many such actors, writers-directors were superhit from the film, who have given more than one film to the Hindi film industry. On one such occasion, Javed Akhtar revealed that Amitabh Bachchan was the final choice for Zanjeer. He also said that Dharmendra had refused his role.
Amitabh Bachchan’s Zanjeer gave a new dimension to his career
Amitabh Bachchan’s film Zanjeer in 1973 gave a new dimension to his career. Before this, many films of Amitabh Bachchan flopped one after the other. He was getting cameo roles and his films were flopping. At the same time, he was removed from a film in the middle so that a celebrable star could be taken. However, 3 people changed his life. It consists of two script writers and a director. Who decided that he would stay in the film industry and reach the top. The names of these three are Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar and Prakash Mehra.
Amitabh Bachchan became an angry young man from Zanjeer
Together these three gave Bollywood the Angry Young Man and this became possible with Amitabh Bachchan’s film Zanjeer. When Amitabh Bachchan was offered this role. Earlier many people had refused to do this role. After this the film reached Amitabh Bachchan and he decided to do it. Amitabh Bachchan became successful because of Zanjeer.
Dharmendra refused to work in the film due to some reasons
Javed Akhtar has also told the story behind this in an interview given to India Today. He said, ‘Amitabh Bachchan was not the final choice for Zanjeer. This story was written for Dharmendra but due to some reasons he refused to act in it. Prakash Mehra had the story but no actors. He was also producing the film. He was doing this for the first time. Prior to this he had only directed. He approached many artists for this role. Some of them are no longer even in this world. Everyone refused to do this role.
Rajesh Khanna was considered as God
Javed Akhtar further adds, “I can understand why he refused to do the role. It was the era of Rajesh Khanna, who was considered God, whose films had good music. Whereas in Zanjeer, there was no romantic song. It was neither a comedy nor a comedy. Here the hero didn’t even sing. From the first frame to the last he had to be serious and in a bitter mood. This was never seen on screen. That’s why everyone refused to do this role. was declined.”
Prakash Mehra was determined to make the film Zanjeer
Javed Akhtar further says, ‘I salute Prakash Mehra. He was determined to make a film. He didn’t leave it. I used to tell him continuously that you take Amitabh Bachchan but his films were not working. Because of this, it was not an attractive proposition either. However, in the end Prakash Mehra took Amitabh Bachchan but when the story of the film was written. Amitabh Bachchan was not in our mind then. Wasn’t even in the scene.”