Dharmendra Reacts To Javed Akhtar's Claim That He Refused Zanjeer: 'Dikhaave Ki Duniya...'

Veteran actor Dharmendra has reacted to lyricist Javed Akhtar’s claim that the actor was the first choice for Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Zanjeer’.

New Delhi: Veteran actor Dharmendra has reacted to lyricist Javed Akhtar’s claim that the actor was the first choice for Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Zanjeer’. Dharmendra took to Twitter and revealed the reason behind rejecting the film. 

In a conversation with India Today, Javed Akhtar had revealed that Amitabh Bachchan was the last choice for 'Zanjeer' and the script was written keeping in mind Dharmendra but he rejected the film. 

“Amitabh Bachchan was actually the last choice for Zanjeer. The script was written for Dharmendra ji but for some reason he later refused to work on it. Prakash Mehra now had a script but not a leading man. He was also producing a film for the first time since he had only directed before that. He went from actor to actor to offer the role. Some of them are not in this world while some of them are. Everybody refused to do this film,” he told India Today. 

“I can also understand why they refused. It was a time when Rajesh Khanna was considered as God, music were a must in films, and Zanjeer offered no romance angle or even comedy. The hero was not even singing here. From the first frame to the last frame, he was supposed to be a very grim, serious, bitter person. This was never seen that time on the screen so obviously it was so different so everybody refused,” he added. 

The veteran actor reacted in a tweet to this and wrote, “Javed, kaise ho……. dikhave ki iss duniya mein haqeeqaten dabi rah jaati hain. Jeetey raho….. Dilon ko gudgudana khoob aata hai….. kaash sar chad ke bolne ka jaadu bhi sekh liya hota….. (How are you doing Javed. Reality often remains unheard in this world full of show offs. I know how to make people laugh… wish I could learn the art of speaking my mind).”  

He also revealed the reason behind not doing the film and wrote that it was an emotional hurdle. “Refusing Zanjeer, was an emotional hurdle which i have mentioned in aap ki Adaalat. So please don’t misunderstand me. i always love Javed and Amit.”  

In the mentioned interview, the actor had said that he didn’t do 'Zanjeer' because his cousin had a feud with director Prakash Mehra and he asked him to reject the offer. 

Directed by Prakash Mehra, 'Zanjeer' changed Amitabh Bachchan’s career and gave him the title of ‘angry young man’.