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Amitabh Bachchan & Shatrughan Sinha
Amitabh Bachchan is back to television as the benevolent host in the fourth season of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, while Shatrughan Sinha will soon return to the silver screen as the charismatic N. T. Rama Rao in Ram Gopal Varma’s Rakta Charitra. While Amitabh’s son, Abhishek, recently received flak for his performance in Raavan, Shatrughan’s son, Kush, made his debut in the movie Sadiyaan this year. The movie sank without a trace. The ‘Betaaj Badshah’, however, is looking forward to his daughter, Sonakshi Sinha’s debut with Salman Khan in Dabangg.
Let’s take an indepth look at the changing equation between the two megastars stars…
Rise: For Shatrughan Sinha, Amitabh Bachchan was not a father figure. Rather Shatrughan, who is fondly known as Shotgun, had overseen Amitabh’s rise from struggler to superstar. Both of them came together on screen in Parwana (1971), Shatru just made a guest appearance in the film. The real chemistry between the duo was seen in Bombay To Goa (1972) where Amitabh played a cool, fun-loving guy who came between the leading lady Aruna Irani and the suave villain Shatrughan. They reportedly shared a good rapport off-screen; encouraging producers and directors to cast them as a combo, as opposed to a Amitabh-Vinod Khanna or Amitabh-Dharmendra. Even with all the Amitabh-Shatru movies, Shotgun was never really overshadowed by Amitabh’s stardom. Their next film, Kala Patthar (1979), is the prime example of the classic Bachchan-Sinha camaraderie. Shatrughan Sinha had a role with better lines and even won the audiences’ sympathy with his character dying a brave death. Amitabh, on the other hand, had a silent brooding role. But when they came on screen together, it was pure entertainment.
Soon, as Amitabh moved towards the ‘larger than life’ image, many of his contemporaries refused to share screen space with him; except Rishi Kapoor.
Fall: Sources maintain that the trouble began at the time of Dostana (1980). With their growing egos, neither Amitabh nor Shatru wanted to work together. However, things looked better when, keeping their personal differences aside, Shatrughan appeared in the next Bachchan-dominant movie, Shaan (1980). It was apparent that Shotgun didn’t have a great track in the film. Unfortunalely, the film could not repeat the magic of their previous films and the rift between the two one-time good buddies came out in the open. A Ramesh Sippy project with Amitabh and Shatru, and newcomer Kanwaljeet, was wrapped unceremoniously.
Come back:
The stars never crossed paths again and maintained their distance, till at the ‘IIFA Awards 2010’, where Shotgun broke the silence by commenting on Amitabh and his family’s absence at the awards. Soon enough, Amitabh reverted with his newfound weapon, Twitter. Though the war of words was entertaining for the media, it was a painful scene for industry stalwarts. Later, a truce was called from both sides. The uncomfortable truce ensues…
Koimoi Jodi Verdict: Looking at both the veterans, one can expect a warm hug soon. Till then, it’s Khamosh!
– By Koimoi.com Team
