Dharmendra reacts to Javed Akhtar's claim that he refused to do ‘Zanjeer’

Actor Dharmendra took to Twitter on Tuesday and reacted to a recent claim of Javed Akhtar about his film ‘Zanjeer’. In an interview, the writer-lyricist said that Amitabh Bachchan bagged the role in the Prakash Mehra-directorial after Dharmendra rejected the 1973 film. He said Big B was the last option for the makers.

Replying to a tweet by HT City quoting Javed Akhtar, Dharmendra shared cryptic lines for the lyricist. ‘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 wrote.

Recently, in an interview with India Today, Mr. Akhtar recalled how Amitabh came on board with ‘Zanjeer’. He mentioned that Big B was actually the last choice for the film and the script was written for Dharmendra ji, but for some reason he later refused to work on it.

‘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.

Javed Akhtar had co-written ‘Zanjeer’ with Salim Khan.

‘Zanjeer’ is one of the biggest super hit films in Amitabh Bachchan’s career that earned him the title of ‘angry young man’. Amitabh portrayed the role of inspector Vijay Khanna, who seeks revenge for his parent's death after getting suspended from his duty.

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