Amitabh Bachchan got fever when Zanjeer flopped, Prakash Mehra would When Zanjeer was declared a flop people thought Prakash Mehra was set to end his life; Amitabh Bachchan was down with fever: ‘Dad mortgaged house, jewellery’How Prakash Mehra mortgaged his wife’s jewellery to save ‘Zanjeer’ after Dharmendra sold the script for Rs 3500When cinephiles revisit Zanjeer, they often remember the birth of the “Angry Young Man,” the rise of Amitabh Bachchan, and the vision of filmmaker Prakash Mehra. Yet, the story of how the film came to life—and how Mehra risked his lifetime savings on it—remains lesser known. It was 1972. Prakash Mehra, still relatively new to the industry, had collaborated with Dharmendra on Samadhi. The film turned out to be a superhit, earning praise for the director-actor duo. Keen to capitalise on this success before it faded, Mehra was determined to make another film that would cement his place in the industry.Prakash Mehra bought Zanjeer script from DharmendraHis first choice was Dharmendra, who was equally interested. Soon, Dharmendra shared a script he had acquired from Salim–Javed—then far from the iconic status they would later achieve. Mehra loved the script, bought it from the actor, cast a struggling actor, and even mortgaged his house and his wife’s jewellery to fund the film. But when it initially flopped, it seemed like everything had fallen apart—until a call from Kolkata changed the fate of Mehra, Amitabh Bachchan, and turned Salim-Javed into a phenomenon.In a recent interview with Vickey Lalwani, Puneet Mehra, son of the late filmmaker, recounted the journey. Film star Ajit, Bindu and Amitabh Bachchan in film ZANJEER. Express archive photoHe shared: “My father and Dharmendra had done a film together called Samadhi. That film worked at the box office and thus formed the duo of Prakash Mehra and Dharmendra. Public demanded another collaboration. My father was fairly new in the industry while Dharmendra was well-established. It was Dharmendra who had the script of Zanjeer with him. When Dharmendra shared the script with my father, he fell in love with it. However, Dharmendra was at his peak and extremely busy star. He had no dates for the longest time. This made my father worried. He had an urgency to make another film before people forget him. He requested Dharmendra if he could buy that script. After discussions with his family, Dharmendra sold that script to my father for just Rs 3500, which was a lot back then.”‘No actor was available to do the film’Despite Mehra’s conviction, the film faced multiple hurdles.Story continues below this adHe continued: “Now, the new problem was if not Dharmendra, then who? After Dharmendra they went to Rajkumar, who at that time was shooting for a film in Hyderabad. He agreed to do the film, but requested my father to do it in Hyderabad. That wasn’t possible because it was the story of a policeman in Mumbai, and the familiarity of the city was needed in the shoot. So this didn’t work out. They then went to Dev Anand. His objection to the script was that there were no songs in it. And he was mainly a musical hero. My father’s argument was that it was the story of a policeman, and he can’t be dancing and singing in the film.” Actor Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan in film ZANJEER. Express archive photoIt was two life-changing phone calls that ultimately altered the course of the film. The first a call from actor Pran.Puneet recalled: “At this time of uncertainty, it was Pran sir who called my father and suggested Amitabh Bachchan’s name. It was around the same time when the film Bombay to Goa was released. He called and said: ‘Ladke mein baat hai.’ Post this call, my father and Javed Akhtar went to Mumbai’s Ambar–Oscar–Minor theatre to watch the film Bombay to Goa. It was one of the fight scenes of Amitabh Bachchan that convinced them that he was the actor they were looking for.”ALSO READ | Dhurandhar 2 Movie Release LIVE Updates: Director Aditya Dhar asks audience to watch for credit roll ahead of release, people complain of preview shows being cancelledStory continues below this adDistributors backed out after Big B castingHowever, that decision came at a cost.He added: “Many distributors backed out when they heard that Dharmendra was replaced with a struggling actor Amitabh Bachchan. Although he had been in a few successful films, most of the credit was given to his co-stars like Mehmood in Bombay To Goa and Rajesh Khanna in Anand. But because my father had a strong conviction and was also the producer of the film, he stayed fixed on Amitabh Bachchan. He mortgaged our house and my mother’s jewellery to release the film at his own risk. However, when the film released, it didn’t work. Hearing this news, Amitabh was down with fever. And my father, who had gambled his entire life on this film, true to his habit, went to Worli Sea Face to smoke cigarettes with all the stress and thoughts.” This was long before corporatisation of the Hindi film industry when filmmakers often made films with their savings or after mortgaging their homes and properties. This continued till the early 2000s when corporate cultures and foreign studios came in and made the process more structured.“The film was declared a flop in the first week, however, we received a call from Kolkata that people are lining up outside theatres to watch the film. Quickly, the phone started ringing from multiple places and then there was no turning back. It is funny how people in his office thought he was under duress. They ran to inform him ‘sir koodna mat, film hit hai.’” Film star Pran in film ZANJEER. Express archive photoZanjeer also marked a turning point for writers Salim–Javed, who famously painted their names on the film’s posters overnight to claim credit for its screenplay—forcing the industry to acknowledge writers more prominently.Story continues below this adThe different versions of ZanjeerHowever, another version of the story suggests that Dharmendra stepping away from the film was influenced by a personal family matter. In an interview with Instant Bollywood, Bobby Deol recalled: “When Zanjeer was offered, Dad wanted to do it. However, humari ek cousin thi, aur unki shayad koi problem ho gayi thi Prakash Mehra Ji se (We had a cousin who apparently had some issues with Prakash Mehra). She came to the house one day and said, ‘Aapko meri kasam, agar aapne yeh film ki toh aap meri dead body dekhoge’ (‘Swear on me, if you do this film, you’ll see my dead body’). So my father had to give up on Zanjeer.”Meanwhile, in another interview, Javed Akhtar offered a different perspective. Speaking to IFP, he said: “No one was willing to do the film because those were the times of Rajesh Khanna, and super hit music of RD Burman, and Lakshmikant Pyarelal, and here we had written a script, where the hero had no songs, romance or light-hearted scenes. People just couldn’t understand what kind of hero he was. He is only angry the whole time. So no actor was willing to do it. We kept insisting to Prakash Mehra to cast Amitabh Bachchan. Problem was every time Prakash Mehra was convinced to cast him, one of Amitabh’s films would fail. He (Mehra) would get discouraged.”He added: “I saw some of his films which didn’t do well—Parvana, Bombay To Goa, and some of his excerpts in Guddi and suddenly I felt after watching these few films that this man is a major talent and both of us (Salim-Javed) agreed on this. We were like, ‘My God, what an actor he is!’”Actor Raza Murad, in a separate interview with The Filmy Charcha, echoed the sentiment: “When Prakash Mehra wanted to make Zanjeer, he went to Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra, Dev Anand, Rajkumar, and they all refused for some or the other reason. The subject was extremely hero-oriented, yet these superstars rejected it. Nobody knows why, but one can say that luck wanted Amitabh Bachchan to lead the film. When nobody wanted him, and Prakash Mehra had no option, Jaya Bachchan (then Jaya Bhaduri) recommended that he take Amitabh Bachchan—and the rest is history.”