After he cast Amitabh Bachchan in Zanjeer, people said Prakash Mehra had gone 'senile', says director's son

When Zanjeer director Prakash Mehra chose Amitabh Bachchan for the film, people thought that he had gone 'senile', said his son Puneet Mehra. The 1973 film was Amitabh's first solo success.

Zanjeer is regarded as the breakthrough film for Amitabh Bachchan as it established him as a bankable star. However, when he was cast, people thought that the film's director Prakash Mehra had gone 'senile' for choosing an unsuccessful actor. In a new interview, Prakash's son, film producer Puneet Mehra said that people questioned why he selected someone who was not at that time 'accepted by the public' and didn't deliver hit films either. He also added that the property of the family and his mother's jewellery was 'at stake' for the film.

Amitabh Bachchan and Pran in a still from Zanjeer (1973)

Puneet said that actor Dharmendra had the script for Zanjeer but he was busy. The script was then taken up by Prakash who first went to Raaj Kumar, who wanted to shoot the movie in Hyderabad. Prakash then went to Dev Anand who wanted songs in the film. It didn't work out with the two actors.

In an interview with Times of India, Puneet recalled, "This search continued and it went back and forth with many top heroes. Eventually, Pran sahab suggested to Dad one day that he should see Bombay To Goa and he might get his hero of Zanjeer in that, Amitabh Bachchan. They went to see the film together and I remember Pran sahab telling me that my dad jumped in a certain scene - I can't recall now which one- and screaming 'Mil gaya (I found him)!'.

He also said, "People thought that Prakash Mehra has gone senile. Why is he going with someone who has not yet been accepted by the public? Why is he taking someone who hasn't had hits? Why isn't he going with a newcomer instead? But back in those days, people could make their films based on their personal faith- and this is just what my Dad did. Property was at stake, mom's jewellery was at stake. This is exactly how Zanjeer was made."

Zanjeer (1973) was an action thriller film written by Salim–Javed and directed and produced by Prakash Mehra. The film featured Amitabh, Jaya Bachchan, Pran, Ajit Khan and Bindu. The film's success paved the way for Amitabh to be cast in a number of hits in the mid-70s, including Deewar, Sholay, Don, etc. This led to Amitabh rise to being the number one star in the Hindi film industry by the end of the decade.