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Exactly 40 years back, this week saw not just one but two blockbuster movies of Amitabh Bachchan released back to back. Trishul and Don which released on 5th May and 12th May 1978 respectively took the nation by storm.
Lets celebrate the 40th anniversary of this “Amitabh week” with some rare trivia about these two super hit movies.
Don
While all know that Shah Rukh Khan had a remake of Don in 2006 (Don, the chase begins) and a sequel as well in 2011 (Don 2), a lesser known trivia is that the 1st remake of Don was in 1979 itself in Telugu by legend N.T.Rama Rao (NTR), called Yugandhar. There was also a Tamil remake by legend Rajinikanth called Billa. Helen repeated her Don role in Billa.
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The producer of the movie, Nariman Irani was in severe financial problem. Amitabh, Zeenat, Pran and director Chandra Barot decided to help him. They approached Salim-Javed who gave them a rejected script. Sadly, Irani died before the film was complete but it was a big hit and his widow was given the profits so that she could pay off her husband’s debts.
Tanzania based Chandra Barot left the country for London due to safety reasons amidst political turmoil. He was a banker with Barclays Bank and had visited his sister in Mumbai, only to stay on in India. Don was his only major movie.
Barot’s mentor was Manoj Kumar, whom he had assisted for Purab aur Paschhim. Barot, showed the script of Don and Manoj suggested adding the song “Khaike Pan banaras wala” as he thought the script was too tight. The song itself was originally planned for Dev Anand’s Banarasi Babu but was edited out. It was probably destined to be filmed on Amitabh and is an integral memory for us. The song played a big part in making the movie a hit.
“Yeh mera dil” is a super hit song of Don. This inspired the rap group “Black eyed peas” for their Grammy winning song “Don’t phunk with my heart“. Kalyanji Anandji were honoured for this rare achievement of a Hindi song inspiring a Grammy winning song.