”Rekha And Zeenat Aman Also Contributed To The Rift”: Shatrughan Sinha On Fight With Amitabh Bachchan (Throwback)

Mumbai: That Shatrughan Sinha and Amitabh Bachchan are not the closest pals anymore is a known fact in the industry. While the duo remain civil towards each other, the industry has seen the worst in them at the time of their rivalry. Since there was a lack of good scripts back and the audience was more loyal towards the star they loved; the competition was more fierce and apparent.

While Shatrughan Sinha has always spoken about this rivalry and Amitabh’s desire to either get him thrown out of a film or to not do a film with him, Amitabh always maintained a stoic silence over the matter. In his book, Anything But Khamosh: The Shatrughan Sinha Biography, the veteran actor has spilled the beans on his equation with his star.

“People say that Amitabh and I made a dynamic pair on screen but if he did not wish to work with me, if he felt that in Naseeb, Shaan, Dostana or Kaala Patthar Shatrughan Sinha bhari pad gaya, it didn’t affect me. There were so many films that I dropped out of and returned the signing amount. There was a film called Patthar Ke Log – one of Prakash Mehra’s – written by Salim-Javed…so many films that I gave up without a backward glance because of Amitabh Bachchan.”

When Shatru got beaten up

Shatrughan further revealed, “There was a fight sequence in Kaala Patthar which I had been told would be an equal fight. But along with fight master Shetty who is no more, it was changed to Amitabh beating the hell out of me, beating me constantly until Shashi Kapoor separated us. On this point, I had to put my foot down and protest that this was not what had been narrated to me I had to argue this out and shooting was stopped for three to four hours which irked Amitabh.”

Zeenat and Rekha’s role in their fight

He also spoke about how few industry people added to this rivalry saying, “People say that Zeenat Aman or Rekha also contributed a little to the rift. Maybe they didn’t like something about me and they said something to Amitabh Bachchan, or maybe they said things about me because I knew a lot about them. To strengthen their position, they would be by Amitabh’s side.”

Though the two share a warm laugh every time they meet or give each other a tight hug, we all know, there are some friendships that only last on the big screen.