Amitabh Bachchan was scared no one would give him movies, reveals Hanif Zaveri – ‘He was ousted from so many films’ |

Facing career uncertainty after early flops, Amitabh Bachchan considered producing films to secure his future. However, director Hrishikesh Mukherjee advised against it, fearing it would alienate other filmmakers. Consequently, Bachchan launched a production banner using his and Jaya’s names but credited Sushila Kamath and Pawan Kumar to avoid this pitfall.

Amitabh Bachchan is one of the most prolific actors we have in the industry. From his ‘angry young man’ era to his powerful performances in the second inning, he never failed to impress. However, there was a time in his professional life when he felt nobody would give him films. Thus, he even decided to become a producer, ensuring a safety net. But here’s another twist, he didn’t use his or Jaya Bachchan’s name as producer. Read on to know more about Amitabh’s fear, decision to be a producer, and some advice from director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, which changed things.

This happened right before ‘Abhimaan’ was made. Hanif Zaveri, in his conversation with Vickey Lalwani, revealed, “Amitabh Bachchan felt he was being ousted from many movies. Zazeer was in the process at that time, but he wasn’t sure whether he would get further work or not. Thus, he wanted to be a producer.”When probed on whether the fear was real, Hanif added, “He was ousted from so many films like ‘Duniya Ka Mela.’”. He mentioned that some filmmakers signed movies with Big B, but those films never went on the floors. Further, revealing what led to such a scenario, Hanif shared, “Because Amitabh Bachchan’s initial movies, like after ‘7 Hindustani’, were flops.” “Amitabh Bachchan felt that as a producer, he should open a banner,” said Hanif before adding that this decision of Big B was to ensure that if in case he doesn’t get work from the outside world, he can work in his home production.

When ‘Guddi’ director Hrishikesh Mukherjee got to know about this decision of Amitabh Bachchan, he told him that if he were to turn a producer, no one from the outside world would give him films anyway. “Back in those days, an actor turned producer wasn’t given movies by others, take Devanand, for example, or Manoj Kumar,” said the film historian.Thus, Amitabh Bachchan decided to produce movies, but didn’t put his name in the credits. He used his and Jaya’s names to make the banner, but in the main credits, wrote Sushila Kamath and Pawan Kumar’s names. Sushila Kamatha was Jaya Bachchan’s secretary, and Pawan Kumar was someone from Amitabh Bachchan’s inner circle, who handled production work like finalizing dates and more.