AMITABH KE TAQDEER NE KAISE USSKI NAKAAMI KI ZANJEER KO TOD DI

He was almost planning to pack his bags and go back to Calcutta where his job as a junior executive in Bird and Company was still waiting for him - Ali Peter John

Eleven of his films after "Saat Hindustani" had bombed at the box office with even a film with the reigning female superstar Mumtaz, "Bandhe Haath" had flopped miserably and he was being written off as a panwati and manhush actor.

Prakash Mehra , a young poet who had come to Bombay with sixty rupees in his pocket and had started his career as one of the many assistants of Dhirubhai Desai , a maker of mythologicals and devotionals , had succeeded in directing films like "Haseena Maan Jaayegi" and "Samaadhi" had made enough money to launch his own production company Prakash Mehra Productions.

He had got the team of writers Salim and Javed to write the script of his next film . He had signed the then rising star Jaya Bhaduri as the leading lady and senior actors like Om Prakash and Praan to play important roles .

But he was not finding a hero. Big actors like Dev Anand , Raaj Kumar and Dharmendra had turned down the offer to play Vijay , the protagonist of the story .

The veteran actors Om Prakash and Praan had worked with a flop actor called Amitabh Bachchan and found him to be a very fiery kind of actor who they felt could be the right choice to fit the role of Inspector Vijay.

They talked to Prakash Mehra about this new actor . Mehra who was losing his patience asked Salim and Javed to see "Bombay to Goa" and they came back after seeing the film with praise for the new actor.

The combination of the two veteran actors , the praise of Salim and Javed and the strong support from the leading lady of the film, Jaya just inspired him to cast the failed actor to play the key role of inspector Vijay.

Amitabh had started shooting for "Zanjeer" and word about his acting spread all around the industry.

But if there were two people who were deadly against Amitabh doing a film like Zanjeer were his parents Dr Harivanshrai Bachchan and Teji Bachchan.

Soon after the completion of "Zanjeer", Prakash Mehra had a private show of the film for a few select friends.

Dr Bachchan and his wife were also invited , but they preferred to stay at home. They however sent Nitin Mukesh who was an assistant to Hrishikesh Mukherjee on their behalf to see the film and report to them .

Nitin came back to the Bachchans and told them that "Zanjeer" would change the life of Amitabh .

The Bachchans were still skeptical and hoped to god that what Nitin said would come true.

Amitabh was and still has never been so anxious and nervous about the release of one of his films. He took all the precautions to see that he didnt lose this opportunity.

He called up my editor 4 times to make sure that his photograph would appear on rhe cover of "Screen " on the day of the release .

He hired a high profile PRO called Gopal Pandey to look after the press and especially the critics who wrote reviews which mattered .

On the morning of the release every newspaper had carried the review of "Zanjeer" and there was hardly any mention of Amitabh in them, even though he had shelled out a lot of money to the reviewers, which was the accepted practice those days.

The only actor who got good reviews was Praan, which made Amitabh feel more insecure.

However the film which was declared a flop before the first show all over India turned out to be a superhit at 3 pm the same Friday and Amitabh was declared the next superstar and that is the position in which Amitabh is to this day after almost 50 years and is still as busy or more busy than any actor has been after playing such a long and colourful and controversial innings .

AISI KAHAANI KISI KISI KI HI HO SAKTI HAIN. AISE HE THODI KOYI ITNAA SARAA HAAR DEKH KAR SADI KAA MAHANAYAK BAN JATAA HAI?