A new story doing the rounds has a veteran actress claiming that Sunil Dutt cast Amitabh Bachchan as mute in Reshma Aur Shera in 1971 as he “hated” the Bachchan baritone.
This statement, however, isn’t true because of the history between the families of Dutts and Bachchans. When Mr Bachchan arrived in the tinsel town, he actually stayed as the Dutts’ houseguest. The two families continue to be very close.
Here is the truth about the muted Bachchan baritone. When I asked Sunil Dutt about it years ago, here’s what the actor-filmmaker said: “By the time Amitabh came to showing an interest in acting, I had already cast for Reshma Aur Shera. There was only one character left to be cast. It was not a lead. And it was that of a mute character. I told Amitabh that the role was not suited for him, what with his impressive voice. But he was keen. And what a performance he gave without speaking a word!”
To now suggest that Mr Bachchan’s character was muted in Reshma Aur Shera as the director “hated” the voice is akin to the view that Gulzar cast Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri as mute in Koshish as he didn’t like their voices.
A source very close to the Bachchans said, “This kind of distortion of facts to grab attention is causing a great deal of damage to the history of Indian cinema.”
Speaking of his association with the Dutts, Bachchan said in an old interview, “When I came to Mumbai, I stayed as Mr and Mrs Dutt’s houseguest… Nargis ji was the first person to invite me home to Mumbai. My mother and she worked together as voluntary medical assistants after the Indo-Pak war. Since my mother was into social causes, she met Mrs Nargis Dutt during the course of such work. My mother happened to mention that I had applied for the United Producers’ talent contest and had been rejected. Mrs Dutt took it upon herself to get a screen test arranged for me. She asked director Mohan Segal to do my screen test.”
He added, “I never forgot their hospitality. Dutt saab gave me a role in Reshma Aur Shera. Sanjay, merely 9 or 10 then, used to come to the sets and he actually did a role in the film. Every time I felt lost in Mumbai, I’d go across to the Dutts’ residence. They always made me feel warmly welcomed… I liked Sanjay’s work immensely in Naam. After the film I went over to his house. Sanjay wasn’t there. I located him at a Chinese restaurant, congratulated him, even gave him a small gift. We ‘ve remained very close since then. Years later when Sanjay produced Kaante, I told him I won’t be able to charge money from him. I later did another film Hum Kisise Kum Nahin and Deewaar with him.”
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