KBC 16: Amitabh Bachchan's Shares Interesting Anecdotes From Sets Of Sharaabi

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will soon celebrate his 82nd birthday. The veteran actor has shared an interesting anecdote related to his 1984 classic Sharaabi. He made this revelation during the latest episode of his quiz-based reality show Kaun Banega Crorepati 16 when he welcomed contestant Dinesh Kumar from Aligarh on the hot seat.

During the game, he asked a question related to the film, which led to an interesting behind-the-scenes story. “We were travelling to the West Indies from New York, with Kalyanji-Anandji’s orchestra and Prakash Mehra was with us. During the flight, Prakash Ji brought up the idea for Sharaabi. He outlined the entire story while we were in mid-air and asked for my thoughts. I simply said, ‘Okay, let’s think about it’. When we returned, he had already written the script. The dialogues were incredibly long—some spanning 2-3 pages”, he said.

Dinesh got excited about the shooting of the film and when he asked more questions, the ‘Shahenshah’ of Bollywood, in his signature style, said, “Nahi, nahi, suniye toh. Abhi kahani khatam nahi hui (hold on, the story is not yet finished)”.

Then, he said to director Prakash Mehra, “You made me an alcoholic for the whole movie and it takes time for an alcoholic to speak. If I were to deliver these 4-page dialogues, the film would span multiple hours. Please shorten them.” Prakash agreed to this and the dialogues were shortened.

Earlier, the actor revealed that he used to hide his left hand while filming for Sharaabi and Inquilaab in 1984 because it had gotten burned during the Diwali season at that time. “I was in the middle of shootings and had to continue working. I had hidden it in films Inquilaab and Sharaabi, by keeping it either covered in a handkerchief or keeping my left hand in my trouser pocket,” he posted on his blog.

“Many thought it was some kind of style statement… Haha. But no it was a reality to save it being filmed while it was still healing,” he added. For the unversed, the Prakash Mehra directorial was released in the year 1984. The film also starred Jaya Prada, Om Prakash, Pran and others. Inspired by the 1981 American film Arthur, it was later remade in Kannada as Nee Thanda Kanike.