Mumbai, August 11 (IANS) Actor Satyajeet Puri has recalled how the Bofors controversy allegedly surrounding Amitabh Bachchan affected his 1987 film ‘Kaun Jeeta Kaun Haara’.
The actor claimed that the backlash against the superstar was so strong that audiences stopped watching his films and even blacked out the posters of his movie.
In a video shared on his own social media account, Satyajeet Puri recalled how Amitabh Bachchan became a part of the film after watching it and liking it.
“Amit Ji saw the film and liked it. He said, what role can I play in this film? Your film is already complete. He said, you become the narrator in this film. You narrate the entire story of this film,” Puri recalled.
He said a special situation was then created to accommodate Bachchan’s appearance in the film.
“So, a situation was made, where Amit Ji is an actor and his car breaks down, and he narrates the entire film. Amit Ji came, Amit Ji did the entire shooting, his entire portion was shot, and the film was released,” he said.
Puri said he was hopeful that Bachchan’s presence would help the film attract audiences.
“Here, I was very happy, that now Amit Ji is in our film, the opening of the film will be good, people will come and watch, the film is good,” he said.
However, according to Puri, things to a drastic turn post the Bofors controversy and changed the situation dramatically.
“But what I had told you earlier, fate, at that time, something happened, that the story of Bofors came out, and people became anti Amit Ji. They became so anti, that they stopped watching Amit Ji’s film,” he recalled.
Puri further claimed that the backlash affected ‘Kaun Jeeta Kaun Haara’ when it reached theatres.
“And when this film was released, people completely banned it from their side. They didn’t watch it. There was no interest to watch it. Even the posters of our film, people blacked them out. And that film, such a good film, such a good story, it didn’t work at all, it flopped,” he said.
Looking back at the experience, Puri attributed the film’s fate to luck.
“Like I told you, film industry, 99% is luck, and 1% again luck. So that wasn’t in my fate, that film wasn’t in my fate,” he said.
The actor also reflected on sharing the film with Bachchan despite not working with him in the conventional sense.
“But yes, in that film, I didn’t work with Amit Ji, but together, we were in that film,” he said.
For the uninitiated, ‘Kaun Jeeta Kaun Haara’, directed and produced by Rakesh Kumar, it featured an ensemble cast including Kishore Kumar, Aruna Irani, Amrish Puri, Jagdeep, Tinnu Anand and Satyajeet Puri. Amitabh Bachchan has appeared in the film as himself.
–IANS
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