Amitabh Bachchan is certainly the biggest superstar of Bollywood and he has given many superb performances over the years in his movies. Big B had the image of an angry young man for many years as the films that he worked in, projected him in this manner.
The documentary Angry Young Men on Prime Video talks about the important role that the legendary screenwriting duo Salim-Javed played in shaping Amitabh Bachchan’s career. During the time when Amitabh’s films were consistently failing at the box office, it was the Salim-Javed duo who recognized his potential and recommended him for the role of Inspector Vijay in “Zanjeer”—the film that ultimately changed the trajectory of his career.
Initially, the role was offered to Dev Anand, who refused due to concerns over the film’s lack of songs, which he believed would make it less exciting and appealing to the audiences. Not just Dev Anand but few other actors also denied working in the movie and the rejection by various actors left the film’s director Prakash Mehra frustrated but he was determined to prove the strength of the story.
Meanwhile, Salim and Javed who were impressed by Amitabh’s performance in “Bombay to Goa”, particularly a confident fight scene, insisted that he was the perfect choice for “Zanjeer”. In an old interview, Farah Khan revealed that Salim-Javed liked the confidence of Amitabh Bachchan in the fight scene with Shatrughan Sinha in which Big B was chewing gum as well.
Amitabh Bachchan recalls this period as a turning point of his professional life, where the very act of Salim-Javed coming to him with a script and narrating him was a big moment despite the fact that his past few movies were failures. The script and role offered him a chance to redefine his image in Indian cinema.
Jaya Bachchan, Amitabh’s co-star and wife, shared her initial reluctance to join the cast of “Zanjeer” due to its male-centric nature. However, she eventually agreed, partly motivated by the opportunity to spend more time with Amitabh. The couple married in June 1973, just a month after “Zanjeer” was released. The movie became a blockbuster and marked the beginning of Amitabh’s era as Bollywood’s ‘angry young man’.
“Zanjeer” is really a great movie and there could be no better actor than Amitabh Bachchan for the role. What do you say?
