Veteran screenwriter Javed Akhtar recalled that when he approached Amitabh Bachchan for Zanjeer, the actor questioned whether he was certain about casting him.
Salim-Javed, a veteran screenwriting partnership, were responsible for creating Amitabh Bachchan‘s Angry Young Man persona in the 1970s. During a seminar at the recently held IFP, screenwriter-turned-lyricist Javed Akhtar remembered how Amitabh was originally hesitant to play the Angry Young Man.
“I visited his residence. I urged him, ‘Let me give you Zanjeer’s script and make you meet the producer.’ You do not discuss the terms and conditions with him. Just make the film in any way feasible. He asked for a narration. I gave him a narration. He looked at me with awe, and I remember it vividly. He asked, ‘Do you think I can pull off this role?’ Because until then, he had only played poets, doctors, writers, and so on. So he said, ‘Can I do this?’ Then I told him, ‘Nobody can do it better than you’,” Javed Akhtar remembered.
Amitabh Bachchan began his career in the late 1960s and rose to prominence in films such as Hrishikesh Mukjerjee’s Anand (1971). However, a number of his later pictures were unsuccessful at the box office. This is why Prakash Jha was originally hesitant to sign him, but ultimately did so. Zanjeer became a smash, and Amitabh went on to play the Angry Young Man in Salim-Javed hits such as Sholay, Deewar, and Trishul.
