Amitabh Bachchan, who features in the three-part docuseries 'Angry Young Men' based on iconic screenwriter duo Salim-Javed, reminisced about working on his superhit film 'Deewar', and specifically shed light on what happened at its premiere
Amitabh Bachchan in 'Deewar' Pic/X
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s tryst with greatness started with Prakash Mehra's ‘Zanjeer’ in 1973, the film that established his image as Hindi cinema's Angry Young Man. Towering roles in ‘Deewar’ (1975), ‘Sholay’ (1975), and ‘Don’ (1978), all written by Salim-Javed, he cemented his position in the industry.
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The superstar, who features in the three-part docuseries 'Angry Young Men' based on iconic screenwriter duo Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar popularly known as Salim-Javed, reminisced working on his superhit film 'Deewar', and specifically shed light on what happened at its premiere.
Directed by Yash Chopra, ‘Deewar’ saw the duel between Amitabh Bachchan's Vijay and Shashi Kapoor's Ravi. Fate brought two brothers at the two ends of a spectrum, a cop and a criminal. The movie is still talked about for its powerful dialogues. Who could forget the powerful line, "Aaj khush to bahut hoge tum..." by Amitabh’s character Vijay as he prayed at the temple for his ailing mother. While it is widely known as an emotional scene today, Big B revealed how the audience laughed at it during the premiere.
Amitabh said, “Vijay, who has no belief in God, finds himself climbing up the steps of the temple to pray for his ailing mother and his opening line is ‘Aaj khush to bahut hoge tum’ (You must be very happy today). I do remember the premier of ‘Deewar’ and there was this snigger and laughter in the audience. And that conveyed that it was so unexpected, and they thought it was some kind of a joke, but within a couple of seconds after that, they just froze.”
Javed shared that people say ‘Deewar’ was a perfect screenplay, but not many know that he and Salim wrote it in 18 days from a small storyline.
Salim said, “Once the script was completed, we hadn’t cracked the climax, so Javed and I completed it sitting on the parapet nearby. Then we went straight to Yash Chopra’s house and narrated it. For almost 5 minutes, there was complete silence.
“If you narrate the story of ‘Deewar’ to someone, there is a 90% chance they will kick you out,” he added.
'Angry Young Men premieres exclusively on Prime Video in India on August 20.
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