50 Years Of Amitabh Bachchan: Big B Landed The Role In His Debut Film Out Of Sheer Luck, Was Offered Less Than 4 Months’ Salary For The Entire Film!

Today, we are celebrating 50 Years of Amitabh Bachchan in the film industry. The tall lanky man, who is the son of celebrated poet Harivansh Bachchan, had been living and earning in Calcutta (now Kolkata) but had dreamt of making his mark as an actor. 50 years down the line, he has managed to not just be one of the biggest superstars that the industry has seen, but also relevant for half a century; and that is an achievement in itself. But did you know that Big B landed on his debut film, Saat Hindustani, out of just sheer luck and was paid a little more than 3 months’ salary for the film?

KA Abbas’ Saat Hindustani marked Amitabh Bachchan’s debut in Bollywood. The film released exactly 50 years back. That was a time when he had been visiting many film makers so that he lands a role but had been rejected by all of them because he was ‘too tall for the heroines’, as has been mentioned in Abbas’ memoir. But then, he had signed him after talking to him. But as Tinnu Anand had revealed in one of his interview, right from the meeting to landing on the role of Anwar Ali, it was no less than a series of strokes that Lady Luck played.

Tinnu had signed the film long back, since he was a close family friend of Abbas.  This was also the time when the director was looking for a heroine and had liked one of his friends, Neena Singh at one of his house parties. Neena, in turn, had asked Tinnu if she could also pass the picture of one of her friends from Calcutta who worked at Bird & Co. The picture was of a tall man, standing in front of the iconic Victoria Memorial. Abbas had then asked the man to come to Bombay on his own expense and wait for the audition, for which he will not be paid at all!

It was Tinnu Anand who had taken Amitabh Bachchan to Abbas’ office when he reached Mumbai. Abbas had recounted in his memoir that he looked even taller than in the picture, thanks to churidar pajama and Nehru jacket. The director talked to him, liked him and gave him the role of the poet’s friend. Yes, he was to initially play the friend of Anwar Ali, and the lead was for Tinnu Anand.

Amitabh Bachchan was offered 5000 rupees for the role, “whether it took one year or 5 years to be made”. Well 5000 rupees is in no means a small amount, but Amitabh had given up his job in Calcutta that paid him 1600 a month to take up the role. This meant that he would be paid a little over his salary for 3 months to shoot an entire film!

Amitabh Bachchan signed the film on 15^th February 1969, which he considers to be the official date of his entry into the Hindi film fraternity.

Amitabh Bachchan had won the National Award for the portrayal of Anwar Ali in Saat Hindustani. But do you know how it was passed on from Tinnu Anand to Big B? Well, that’s also a stroke of luck. Anand was suddenly offered a Satyajit Ray film. His father had gotten a letter saying that he can work with Satyajit Ray, so he left the film and went directly to Howrah; and the role of Anwar Aliwent directly to Amitabh Bachchan. (Tinnu Anand was first told by Ray that the producers did not have the budget to afford him and upon seeing him disappointed, Ray gave him the script of Goopi Gyne Bagha Byne).

As Tinnu had himself admitted in the interview, “He made a tremendous impression on people in one sequence where his foot gets cut with a razor and he has to walk across the border from Goa to India.”