Amitabh Bachchan delivered many remarkable films in the 1970s, but 1975 proved to be a very special year for him. This year he gave one hit film after another. There was a time when film producers and directors were reluctant to sign Amitabh Bachchan in their films, but during that period these directors and producers started believing that any film in which Amitabh Bachchan would be a hit was sure to be a hit. The film 'Zanjeer' released in 1973 completely changed Amitabh Bachchan's fortunes. After this, 'Sholay' released in 1975 created film history. But before 'Sholay', there was a film in which the film's producers were afraid to cast Amitabh Bachchan.

Amitabh Bachchan started his career with 'Saat Hindustani' and this film flopped at the box office. Even after this, many of Amitabh Bachchan's films flopped. 'Zanjeer', which came in 1973, proved to be the first successful film of his career. On the other hand, no film has been able to break the record of 'Sholay', which came in 1975. But, the makers of the superhit film 'Deewaar', which came before Sholay, did not want to cast Big B.

Amitabh Bachchan Wasn’t the First Choice for Deewaar

Shashi Kapoor, Neetu Singh and Parveen Babi were in the lead roles along with Amitabh Bachchan in the film ‘Deewaar’ which was directed by Yash Chopra. Not only the story of Deewaar but its dialogues and songs made people its fans. Javed-Salim tried to portray the pain and struggle of the middle class in this film.

Amitabh's Struggling Career Phase

The late filmmaker Shyam Benegal mentioned in the documentary 'Angry Young Men' based on the professional partnership of Salim-Javed that Amitabh Bachchan was not the first choice of the makers for Deewaar. He wrote - At the time of 'Deewar', Amitabh Bachchan's career was in trouble. He had given many flop films by then. Still, Salim-Javed saw his potential and cast him in the role of Vijay in 1973 hit 'Zanjeer'. After Zanjeer, they again cast Amitabh Bachchan in 'Deewaar' and this time too his character's name was Vijay. Salim-Javed's films made Amitabh the biggest superstar of Bollywood.

Rajesh Khanna was the first choice

In an old interview on the Lehren podcast, Salim Khan said that Rajesh Khanna was the first choice for this film. Recalling how Amitabh Bachchan entered the film, he said - 'There are things like ideal and compromising casting. We felt that no one could be better than Amitabh for 'Deewaar'. 'Deewaar' producer Gulshan Rai had signed Rajesh Khanna, but we felt that Amitabh Bachchan would fit in the story. Then we insisted and said that if you want to make this film then only Amitabh will work in it. This film would have probably worked well with any other star, but this would not have been the ideal casting. It would have been just a compromise.'

The Fourth Highest-Grossing Film of 1975

Let us tell you that Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar wrote the story of 'Deewaar' in just 18 days. This film strengthened Amitabh Bachchan's 'angry young man' image in Bollywood and also established him as the new superstar of the 70s. This film became the fourth highest-grossing film of 1975.