Renowned script writers Salim-Javed open up on casting for ‘Deewaar’
Renowned script writers Salim-Javed open up on casting for ‘Deewaar’
The late Yash Chopra directorial ‘Deewaar’ featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor has clocked 50 years. The film is touted a cult and quite iconic – from its story to dialogues and Bachchan’s angry young man avatar!
But not many know that initially Rajesh Khanna was cast for the film.
Renowned Screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan, predominantly acknowledged as Salim-Javed are considered legendary and have given Hindi cinema some cult classics
As they scripted ‘Deewar’, they weren’t convinced with Khanna’s casting but had revealed once that the producer of the film Gulshan Rai wanted to cast him. At that point in time, Rajesh Khanna was a huge superstar and hence the producer had cast him. But Salim-Javed were adamant that only Bachchan was suitable for that role.
Amidst an old interview Salim Khan had articulated on Khanna’s casting for ‘Deewar’. He had said, “There is something like ideal and compromising casting.
We strongly felt that Amitabh Bachchan was the ideal casting for the fil. Rajesh Khanna was signed by Deewaar’s producer Gulshan Rai but we very strongly felt that the story’s right casting is Amitabh Bachchan and we insisted that if you want to make this film then only Amitabh will work in this. Maybe the film would have worked with someone else but it wouldn’t have been an ideal casting. It would have been a compromise.
In an another interview, Javed Akhtar had also said that it was very difficult to work with Khanna.
News Edit KV Raman
