Sunil Dutt dismissed young Amitabh Bachchan, said he had ‘pahaadi kauwe ki awaaz’ before casting him in Reshma Aur Shera | Bollywood News

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan is perhaps Indian cinema’s most iconic personality. And while it has taken incredible hard work and struggle for Bachchan to attain and maintain his stardom across decades, there was also a time in his initial years when he faced criticism and resance from filmmakers. Recalling one such incident, actor Sheeba Agarwal’s husband, Akashdeep Sabir, recalled an incident where Sunil Dutt compared Amitabh Bachchan’s voice to that of a crow. Bachchan is known for his baritone, and has also narrated scores of popular projects.
Recalling the incident, Akashdeep said in an interview with Lehren Retro, “When my father (Manmohan Sabir) was making Saath Hindustani, Sunil Dutt asked for some show reels because he had heard about an interesting actor and he wanted to cast him as a second hero in Reshma Aur Shera. It was 1972, we went and showed Saath Hindustani to him and after the trial my father and Dutt sahab were drinking in the Ajanta lob. That’s when Sunil Dutt said, ‘Manmohan, this boy is intense, par yeh pahaadi kauwe ki awaaz ka kya karunga yaar. (But what do I do about his crow-like voice) Later, he signed Amitabh Bachchan for Reshma Aur Shera, where he was mute. Who does that with Amitabh Bachchan?”
Also Read: Sheeba Akashdeep praises Jigra co-star Alia Bhatt: ‘She is a great actor, genetically blessed’

Recently, Sheeba also exclusively spoke to SCREEN where she praised her Jigra co-star Alia Bhatt and also revisited interesting memories of working with Dharmendra on Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. She had said, “Jigra was the second time around I worked with Alia Bhatt. In fact, in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, I didn’t have any scene with her. Firstly, I find her such a with-it actor. When she just says her lines and is rehearsing with you, you feel like, damn, she’s ready! She is a well-prepared actor and just lights up the screen, and she looks lovely, so she has gotten it all.”
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Talking about Dharmendra, she added, “Esha Deol is a friend, but I had never met Dharamji. I find him one of the best-looking men in the industry; he is the Greek God. He is so humble and sweet. He spent hours chatting with me between the shots, showing me his previous work and Instagram feed. He was so excited that he even called up Esha and told her that he was shooting with me.”
Amitabh had a difficult run as an actor early in his career. Recalling this phase, writer Javed Akhtar had said at the IFP, “I saw some of his films which didn’t do well–Parvana, Bombay To Goa, and some of his excerpts in Guddi and suddenly I felt after watching these few films that this man is a major talent and both of us (Salim-Javed) agreed on this. We were like, ‘My God, what an actor he is!’ Unfortunately, his films were not doing well at that time.”