“I thought he was going to hit me."
Filmmaker Tinnu Anand spoke about an altercation he had with Amitabh Bachchan when he directed him in Kaalia (1981).
In the film, Amitabh played Kaalia ‘Kallu’, a simple man who transforms into a jailbird during his enmity with Shahani Seth/Jaswant (Amjad Khan).
While Tinnu Anand was at the helm, his father Inder Raj Anand wrote the dialogue.
Inder Raj had penned dialogues for many of Raj Kapoor’s classics, including Aag (1948) and Anari (1959).
Tinnu explained that he and Amitabh disagreed about the dialogues in Kaalia.
The dialogue was:
“Tu aatish-e-dozakh se darata hai jinhe, voh aag ko pee jaate hain paani karke. Chala dijiye goli.” (Those who you scare with the fire of hell, they drink the fire as if it is water. Fire the bullet).
The filmmaker said that Amitabh Bachchan did not believe that this line would be popular, despite Tinnu’s insistence that he would receive “applause” for it:
“[Amitabh] said, ‘You know, every director tells me that you will get claps on this but when I go to the theatre, there are no claps’.
“I said, ‘Sir, I swear on my mom, my profession, if I don’t get a clap, I will leave this profession, I will never direct again. But you will have to swear too, that if there is clapping on this, you will leave your profession’.
“I thought he was going to hit me.
“He looked at the light man and said, ‘Switch on the lights. He is such a stubborn director, he won’t budge. I will say the dialogue’.”
Tinnu Anand also revealed that on the day of the altercation, Amitabh’s mood was “not good”.
However, the director added that his father was very strict about his dialogues and would not allow any actor to change them.
When Tinnu narrated the line to Amitabh, the superstar had allegedly said: “I won’t say this dialogue.”
As a result, Tinnu apparently threatened to leave the film after asking the producer to hire another director.
When Kaalia was released, Tinnu Anand attended screenings for his film.
He said that the particular dialogue earned applause in every showing.
Kaalia was a huge success for Amitabh. Along with him and Amjad Khan, the movie also featured Asha Parekh, Parveen Babi and Pran.
Tinnu Anand went on to direct Amitabh in Shahenshaah (1988) and Major Saab (1998).
He has also acted in films such as Ghajini (2008) and Dabangg (2010).
Meanwhile, on the work front, Amitabh Bachchan was last seen in Ganapath (2023).
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