Deewar turns 50: When Salim-Javed replaced ‘compromise casting’ Rajesh Khanna, said only Amitabh Bachchan will play Vijay

At the clip of Deewaar, Amitabh Bachchan’s vocation was successful a precarious state, with respective flops to his name. Yet, Salim-Javed saw his imaginable and formed him arsenic Vijay successful their 1973 deed Zanjeer. Two years later, they would repetition the magic by casting him arsenic Vijay again successful Deewaar. Their find of Bachchan arsenic a starring antheral stemmed from an unexpected source. One day, Salim-Javed happened to ticker his movie Bombay to Goa, and they were convinced helium was the perfect choice.

Salim-Javed’s films were pivotal successful transforming Amitabh Bachchan into Bollywood’s biggest antheral superstar, dethroning Rajesh Khanna and establishing the archetype of the ‘Angry Young Man.’ In an aged interrogation with Lehren Podcast, Salim Khan recounted the determination to take Amitabh Bachchan implicit Rajesh Khanna. He said, “There is thing similar perfect and compromising casting. We powerfully felt that Amitabh Bachchan was the perfect casting for Deewaar. Rajesh Khanna was signed by Deewaar’s shaper Gulshan Rai but we precise powerfully felt that the story’s close casting is Amitabh Bachchan and we insisted that if you privation to marque this movie past lone Amitabh volition enactment successful this. Maybe the movie would person worked with idiosyncratic other but it wouldn’t person been an perfect casting. It would person been a compromise.”

In different interrogation connected the SAM YouTube channel, Javed Akhtar recalled that though they had collaborated with Rajesh Khanna antecedently successful films similar Andaz and Haathi Mere Saathi, they aboriginal recovered it pugnacious to enactment with him. “There came a clip erstwhile we realised that it would beryllium hard for america to enactment together. He was surrounded by truthful galore people, truthful galore sycophants and yes men, it was hard to enactment with him. So, we parted ways,” helium added, “The benignant of films that we were writing, and the benignant of films that we had successful our mind, were overmuch much suitable for an histrion similar Amitabh Bachchan.”

Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar wrote the publication of Deewaar successful 18 days. Marking the aureate jubilee of the movie of Tuesday, Javed Akhtar wrote connected societal media, “Deewaar was released connected 21st January 1975 . Theek pachaas saal pehle . How clip passes truthful softly and truthful quickly. It is happening each the clip but remains a wonderment !!”

Deewaar was released connected 21st January 1975 . Theek pachaas saal pehle . How clip passes truthful softly and truthful quickly. It is happening each the clip but remains a wonderment !!

— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) January 21, 2025

Following Zanjeer, Deewaar was instrumental successful solidifying Amitabh Bachchan’s representation arsenic Bollywood’s ‘Angry Young Man’ and the caller superstar of the 1970s. The film, which besides starred Shashi Kapoor successful a salient role, became 1 of the year’s biggest hits and continues to beryllium celebrated arsenic 1 of Indian cinema’s top films.