Amitabh Bachchan and Yash Chopra’s collaboration brought out some of the most glorious films in Indian cinema, including Trishul, Kabhi Kabhie, Kaala Patthar, Silsila, Mohabbatein amongst so many others. However, the equation which they shared was far more intimate than that of a filmmaker and actor. Over the years, audiences have witnessed the close familial bonding Amitabh shared with Yash and his family. However, did you know that there was a time when the duo had a major fallout owing to the failure of a film? Well, let us tell you more about it.
Back in 1981, Yash Chopra envisioned a bold dream to make a coming of the age film called Silsila that would, perhaps for the first time, discuss extramarital relationships on the celluloid. While such a topic was a hot topic of debate, it was the casting of the film that also received a lot of flak. Interestingly, Yash chose Amitabh Bachchan and his wife, Jaya Bachchan as the lead pair of the film. However, he also roped in Rekha for portraying the other woman in the male protagonist’s life. Incidentally, one must remember that back at that time, Rekha and Amitabh were said to be in an extramarital affair in itself, and such a pairing was critiqued by many.
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Everything was going fine with the shooting of the film, Silsila, even with the problematic casting of the film. However, things started to go downhill when Yash Chopra had difficulty in making Amitabh Bachchan dub for the film. Apparently, Big B was erratic and would cancel his dubbing sessions, leading to the filmmaker to worry about the release of the film. In any case, Yash Chopra was in no mood to delay the release of the film even just a day beyond July 31, 1981. Interestingly, while he wasn’t sure about the reason behind the delay, it was later when he got to know how Amitabh was prioritising his time to release his other movie, Yaarana at the same time, since it had been stalled previously. This gesture naturally hurt Yash Chopra.
Post its release, Silsila couldn’t make a mark at the box-office and flunked. It was at this time when Yash Chopra couldn’t control his anger and publicly revealed how Amitabh had preferred shooting schedules for Yaarana over Silsila. Moreover, he even added how the actor had a habit of being dishonest with other filmmakers like Manmohan Desai and Prakash Mehra, both of who worked with Amitabh and got their films failed because of his lack of commitment.
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Hearing such allegations, Amitabh Bachchan didn’t sit mum and started to reveal his side of the story in various interviews back at that time. The actor, on the contrary, remarked how Yash Chopra replaced actresses, Smita Patil and Parveen Babi from the original casting of Silsila at the last minute, and sent him to offer the actresses an explanation. Amitabh publicly questioned the integrity of Yash Chopra towards his work ethics, and revealed that the latter had frequent fallouts with producers due to monetary manipulations and fraud.
After this episode, the filmmaker and actor duo weren’t on talking terms for the longest. However, their situations changed as late as 2000, when Amitabh, after suffering from a massive bankruptcy, was out of work and begged Yash Chopra for work. That is how he landed the project, Mohabbatein. Recalling that moment, previously in 2016, Amitabh Bachchan, while speaking at the India Today Conclave mentioned:
“I had a huge financial failure in the corporation that I began. It went bankrupt and it bankrupted me. You sit back and think 'What can I do?' and I said, 'You are an actor. Go back to acting so, that's what I did. I went to Yash ji and said I am without a job. I need it.”
What do you think about this unheard episode of fight between Yash Chopra and Amitabh Bachchan?
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