Shatrughan Sinha and Amitabh Bachchan worked in many films on screen in the 70s, but behind the scenes nothing was fine between the two. In Shatrughan Sinha’s biography ‘Anything But Khamosh’, the actor reveals that he actually refunded the signing amount for many films because of Amitabh Bachchan. Shatrughan wrote in the book, the problem was what I was getting for my performance. Amitabh could see the response I was getting. That’s why he didn’t want me to be a part of his films. He recalled that during the film ‘Kaala Patthar’ which was one of the best films of his career at that time, there was a lot of tension between the two.
Not only this, when Shatrughan was asked about this during an event, Amitabh had said, “These things are all about yesterday. If not written, it would not have been honest biography. It does not mean that today I am in my heart.” There is some sourness. That was the zeal of youth and the demand for stardom. If we are friends, we have the right to fight. If you ask me today, I would say that I have immense respect for Amit (Amitabh Bachchan) and I consider him the personality of the millennium.”
Shatrughan has written in his book, ‘The biggest problem was that I was getting a different identity on the basis of my ability. Amitabh Bachchan was also understanding this thing and this was the reason why he did not want to see me in many of his films. Shatrughan further wrote in his biography, ‘During Kala Patthar, Amitabh Bachchan had a heroine friend and used to visit him frequently on the shoots. After that we started working in Dostana even then she used to come, but Amitabh never introduced her to us.
He further writes, ‘In showbiz, everyone knows who is coming to meet whom. Even before us, the media gets its news. If Reena Roy was in my make-up room, everyone would have known. Because it was not possible to keep such things hidden in the film industry. In a conversation with Times of India, Shatrughan had told, ‘Films like Deewar, Sholay and Satte Pe Satta were offered to me earlier. But the makers may have felt later that any other actor is better for this film.
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In the 70s, his stature in Bollywood was bigger than Amitabh Bachchan. Due to this there was a rift in the friendship. Shatru writes in his book, “Then people used to say that Amitabh and my onscreen pair were superhit, but they did not want to work with me. They used to think that ‘Naseeb’, ‘Kala Patthar’, ‘Shaan’ and ‘Dostana’ ‘ I got over him, but it never made any difference to me.”
“I was never offered a chair next to Amitabh on the sets of Kala Patthar. After shooting, Amitabh never offered me to come in his car on my way from the location to the hotel. I used to wonder why. It is happening. But I have never complained about anything.” Shotgun writes in his biography that to make Amitabh’s film career, he left many big films for him without any trouble.
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