Zanjeer Film Changed Amitabh Bachchan Life: The fans of megastar Amitabh Bachchan of the century are still in crores. People keep yearning to get a glimpse of him. The megastar’s acting has influenced many generations. The indelible impression of Big B’s acting is going to remain alive in the hearts of people for centuries. The actor still has the same enthusiasm even after doing more than 200 films including Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Kannada and English. But do you know that ‘Zanjeer’ was a film which changed the fate of Big B. Let us tell you stories related to this film.
When Amitabh continuously gave flop films
In the early 70s, Amitabh gave many flop films, which include movies like Pyaar Ki Kahani, Reshma Aur Shera, Sanjog, Bansi Birju, Ek Nazar, Raaste Ka Patthar. At that time only one film of Amitabh, Bombay to Goa, was successful. During that time, Amitabh Bachchan was not happy, until a film completely changed his fortunes. That film was Zanjeer, which was directed by Prakash Mehra. This film, released on 11 May 1973, ended the drought in Amitabh’s career.
Was not the first choice for Zanjeer
The film Zanjeer was a superhit not only in India but also in the Soviet Union. This film earned Rs 17 crore worldwide. If reports are to be believed, Amitabh Bachchan was not the first choice for this film. Earlier Dharmendra and Mumtaz were to play lead roles in this film. But later Dharmendra left this film, after which the director contacted other stars. Prakash Mehra went to Dev Anand, Raj Kumar and Dilip Kumar for Zanjeer, but everyone refused. Then later Salim-Javed duo suggested the name of Amitabh Bachchan for the film.
Mumtaz also left the film
After Amitabh’s name was finalized for this film, now it was the heroine’s turn. Initially Mumtaz was cast in the film, but she left the film choosing marriage over career. Now Prakash Mehra was facing a crisis regarding heroine. At that time Jaya Bachchan was working on another project with Prakash Mehra. When the director told her about the story, she agreed to do the film.
Pran’s fee was more than Amitabh’s
When the shooting of Zanjeer was going on, it was being said about Amitabh Bachchan that he was a failure in the film line. At that time, Pran was a big and legendary artist, who used to charge more money for films than even Amitabh Bachchan.
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