During his earlier appearance on Kaun Banega Crorepati, Anil Kapoor had revealed that despite being a part of the star-studded ensemble, the audience barely acknowledged his presence in Shakti. He portrayed the role of Amitabh Bachchan’s son in the film.
Expressing his excitement at taking on the part, Anil recalled, “My role was such that there was a scene in the beginning of the film. And then there was a scene after Dilip Kumar shoots your character. People would walk in late to watch the film so they would miss my scene. And after you got shot, people would go out of the theatre.”
Anil shared a humorous anecdote about how the audience would react at the time, “Arre ab kya film dekhni? Amit ji, jisko dekhne aaye the, voh toh guzar gaye (Why should we watch the film now? The man we came to watch, Amitabh Bachchan, is dead now).”
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Interestingly, before Anil Kapoor came on board, the script for Shekhar Kapur‘s Mr India was initially offered to Amitabh Bachchan by Salim-Javed. As revealed in Anita Padhye’s Marathi book “Yahi Rang, Yahi Roop,” Amitabh declined the part since he believed that the invisible-man concept wouldn’t resonate well with his fans, who came to theaters specifically to see him.
Although Salim-Javed were confident in Amitabh believing that his voice would work wonders for the film, the actor had a different perspective.
Eventually, Anil Kapoor rose to stardom with his lead role in Shekhar Kapur’s Mr India in the late 1980s. Over the years, Kapoor and Bachchan shared credits in various films, including special appearances, but it was only in Honey Irani’s 2005 film Armaan that they both starred in feature-length roles.