When Sunil Dutt compared Amitabh Bachchan’s voice to that of a crow
In the midst of a recent interview, director Akashdeep Sabir recalled the time when Sunil Dutt compared Amitabh Bachchan’s voice to that of a crow.
Undoubtedly, Amitabh Bachchan is Indian cinema’s esteemed personality and an institution in himself.
Although it took incredible hard work and struggle for Amitabh to attain and maintain his stardom across decades, there was also a time in his initial years when he was a victim to criticism and resistance from filmmakers.
Amitabh Bachchan is acknowledged for his baritone, and has also narrated scores of popular projects.
Recounting the incident, Akashdeep said in the midst of his interview when he went on to quote that when his father (Manmohan Sabir) was making film Saath Hindustani,
Sunil Dutt asked for some show reels because he had heard about an interesting actor and he wanted to cast him as a second hero in Reshma Aur Shera. It was 1972, film Saath Hindustani was screened to him and after the trial his father and Dutt sahab were drinking in the Ajanta lobby. That’s when Sunil Dutt said, ‘Manmohan, this boy is intense,
But what do I do on his crow-like voice. Later, he signed him for his Reshma Aur Shera, where he was mute.
He had never met Dharamendra who is hailed as one of the best-looking men in the industry. He is so humble and sweet. Spent hours chatting with him amid the shots, showing him his previous work and Instagram feed. He was so excited that he even called up Esha and told her that he was shooting with me.”
Amitabh had a difficult time as an actor early in his career. Recalling this phase, writer Javed Akhtar had said at the IFP, “he saw some of his films which didn’t do well–Parvana, Bombay To Goa, and some of his excerpts in Guddi and suddenly he felt after watching these few films that this man is a major talent and both of us (Salim-Javed) agreed on this. We were like, ‘My God, what an actor he is!’ Unfortunately, his films were not doing well at that time.”
News Edit KV Raman
