Amitabh Bachchan & Dharmendra Were Once Shown Their Place During Chupke Chupke Shoot By Hrishikesh Mukherjee, “Aye Dharam, Amit, If You Had Any Sense…”
can you imagine a director schooling Amitabh Bachchan & Dharmendra for questioning about a scene? It happened on Hrishikesh Mukherjee's set.
Amitabh Bachchan & Dharmendra In A Still From Chupke Chupke Directed By Hrishikesh Mukherjee ( Photo Credit – YouTube )
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Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra are the two stalwarts of Indian Cinema who ruled the silver screen in their era (and still rule it whenever they are on screen). But can you imagine a director schooling them for questioning a scene or updates about a scene? Well, it happened once on the set of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film Chupke Chupke.
Amit & Dharam, as the duo were popularly called, worked together in the 1975 film that also starred Sharmila Tagore, Jaya Bachchan, Asrani & Utpal Dutt. The film was one of the best situational comedies of its time.
In one of his interviews, recalling Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s working style, Asrani talked about how the filmmaker once showed Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra their spot, silencing them and their questions with one sly yet hilarious dig.
Talking about one of the shooting days, Asrani narrated, “In those days, there would be budgetary restrictions and we used to get clothes from old films. I generally did not get to wear suits in films, and now that I was wearing one, Dharmendra got scared and asked, ‘What is going on? What is the scene? How did you get a suit and I get a driver’s dress? Suit toh apne baap ko bhi nahi dega Hrishikesh Mukherjee!”
The filmmaker overheard the conversation and shouted at Dharmendra, “Aye, Dharam! What are you asking Asrani?’ The scene, right? Arey, if you had any sense for the story, would you have been a hero then?” If you think this was a funny banter, wait till you read what happened next!
After some time, when Amitabh Bachchan entered the set, even he was curious seeing Asrani in a suit and wanted to know about the scene. The Abhimaan actor asked Sholay’s Jailer, “Oh! How come you are in a suit today?’ Amitabh asked me. ‘Whose office is this? What is the scene?'”
Asrani narrated, “Dada saw it again and yelled, “Aye Amit! What are you asking Asrani? The story of the scene? Dharam! Tell him what I told you. You guys, if you had the sense for the story you wouldn’t be playing heroes in films! Chalo (go) get to work.”
Hrishikesh Mukherjee was the man responsible for bringing a wide variety of roles to Amitabh Bachchan at a time when he was turning into an Angry Young Man. The duo worked together in Mili, Anand, Chupke Chupke, Abhimaan, and many other films. The filmmaker passed away on August 27, 2003, at the age of 83.
