When Ramesh Sippy brought Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar together in his 1982 film Shakti, it was the biggest casting coup of the era. The idea of these two movie stars sharing the screen was enough to attract the audience to theatres but not many know that Anil Kapoor, who was still a newbie in the movies in the early 1980s, was also a part of this film.
In an earlier appearance on Kaun Banega Crorepati, Anil said that even the theatre going audience did not register his presence in the film. Anil played the role of Amitabh Bachchan’s son in the movie and said that he was very excited to take this part on. “My role was such that there was a scene in the beginning of the film. And then there was a scene after Dilip Kumar shoots your character. People would walk in late to watch the film so they would miss my scene. And after you got shot, people would go out of the theatre,” he said.
Remembering what the audience would say at the time, Anil shared “Arre ab kya film dekhni? Amit ji, jisko dekhne aaye the, voh toh guzar gaye (Why should we watch the film now? The man we came to watch, Amitabh Bachchan, is dead now).”
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In the 1980s, Anil Kapoor became a star after playing the lead role in Shekhar Kapur’s Mr India. But before Anil came on board, the Salim-Javed script was offered to Amitabh Bachchan who refused to play an invisible hero. As per Anita Padhye’s Marathi book Yahi Rang, Yahi Roop, Amitabh apparently believed that the invisible-man concept wouldn’t work for him as his fans came to theatres to see him. Salim-Javed were of the opinion that Amitabh’s voice would work wonders for the film but the actor did not share the same opinion.
Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Kapoor have shared credits in a few films in special appearances but the only movie that starred them both in feature length roles was Honey Irani’s 2005 film Armaan.
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