When Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan insisted on casting Amitabh Bachchan in Zanjeer despite back to back 11 flop films

Javed Akhtar credited Big B's own powerful performance—something never before witnessed in Hindi cinema—for changing everything.

Amitabh Bachchan, one of the biggest stars in cinema history and arguably India’s most iconic actor, had a rocky start with nearly ten flops before his breakthrough. At a time when he was struggling for work, Salim-Javed fought to cast him in Zanjeer—the film that finally launched him to stardom.

In an earlier interview with Hook Global, Javed Akhtar clarified that he and Salim Khan never set out to “launch” Amitabh Bachchan as the Angry Young Man. However, he admitted they had to push hard to get him cast in Zanjeer, since Amitabh Bachchan wasn’t seen as commercially bankable then.

Javed Akhtar credited Big B's own powerful performance—something never before witnessed in Hindi cinema—for changing everything. He said, “Most of the time, we don’t respect the talent. There were very few people who had great respect for him, even after 11 of his films had flopped in a row.”

When asked about pitching Zanjeer to Amitabh Bachchan in the early 1970s, Javed Akhtar reminisced about the experience. “I was totally convinced that nobody could play this role the way he could. I hardly knew him when I narrated the script to him. We had met only once before. I called him. I said, ‘There is a script I would like to narrate to you. When can I meet you?’ He summoned me immediately, because he was sitting around jobless. I went an narrated the complete script, and he looked at me with wonder. He asked, ‘Do you think I can pull this role off?’ I said, ‘Nobody in this country can play it better than you’," he said.

He further recalled, “Jaya ji wasn’t his wife then, knew what he (was capable of) and had great respect for his talent. Hrishikesh Mukherjee had a great respect for his talent, and kept on giving him work. We saw him in a film that didn’t do well, but we could see that he is a volcano, waiting to erupt. He was very good in his worst films also. The film was bad, the script was bad, the dialogue was bad, the screenplay was wrong, but his work was impeccable. We had total confidence. Here is a major, major star who was waiting for the right opportunity.”

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Zanjeer told the story of Vijay, a police inspector who, after being suspended, embarks on a mission to avenge his parents’ killers. Along the way, he joins forces with a spirited woman and an unlikely ally-turned-friend. Headlined by Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, and Pran, the film was a game-changer.

Its massive success catapulted Amitabh Bachchan to stardom, paving the way for iconic blockbusters like Sholay and Deewar, and cementing his place as one of India’s greatest film stars.