'Amitabh Bachchan was sitting jobless at home after 11 flops...': Javed Akhtar reminisces about pitching Zanjeer to Big B, says 'Jaya Bachchan never...'

Amitabh Bachchan is a megastar now; however, there was a time when no one in the film industry believed in his talent, thanks to his string of flop films. There was a time when Big B was essentially out of work when Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan fought hard to make him the lead in Zanjeer. It was this film that would not only break the curse of his flop films but would also go on to make Amitabh Bachchan a megastar for generations to come. Amitabh Bachchan is now one of the most popular stars that India has ever produced, but his story began with Zanjeer, which was offered to him when he had no work.

Did Amitabh Bachchan have no work after a series of flop films? 

In an interview with Hook Global, Javed Akhtar clarified that though he and Salim Khan cannot take credit for launching Amitabh Bachchan as the 'Angry Young Man', they did have to fight for him to be cast in Zanjeer. Amitabh Bachchan was not considered to be commercially viable at the time and was essentially out of work; however, things changed after the release of Zanjeer. Javed Akhtar, praising Amitabh Bachchan for his performance in the film, 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."

Javed Akhtar reveals Jaya Bachchan supported Amitabh Bachchan despite him giving 11 flop films 

Javed Akhtar also praised Jaya Bachchan for always believing in Amitabh Bachchan's talent. "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," he said. 

Who offered Zanjeer to Amitabh Bachchan? 

Javed Akhtar recalled the time he offered Amitabh Bachchan the film Zanjeer, saying that 'nobody could play this role the way he could'. Javed Akhtar said, "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 and 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'."

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