Superstar Amitabh Bachchan shocked the people at the age of 78, in Ladakh, in the cold winter of 33 degrees. This is not the first time for Amitabh Bachchan, when he has shown dedication to work. From the beginning of his career, he has been very disciplined and punctual about shooting. Even in the early stages of his career, he had to face the stress of Rajesh Khanna for this. According to Virendra Kapoor’s book ‘Excellence: The Amitabh Bachchan Way’, released on the occasion of Amitabh Bachchan’s 75th birthday, Rajesh Khanna said that this was a cleric’s attitudinal tension on Big B’s discipline.
Rajesh Khanna was a superstar at that time and Amitabh Bachchan was trying to get a foothold in the film industry. Rajesh Khanna was often known for arriving late on the sets for shooting and Amitabh Bachchan was often on time. In such a situation, Amitabh Bachchan was getting much appreciation in the film world. Taking a dig at this, Rajesh Khanna said in an interview, ‘He believes that clerks are more punctual. He is not a clerk but an artist. ‘ Amitabh Bachchan was just beginning to get acclaim at that time, while Rajesh Khanna was a superstar.
Then Amitabh replaced Rajesh Khanna: However, Amitabh Bachchan did not react during this time. Even further, he used to say that Rajesh Khanna was the superstar for him. Amitabh Bachchan was very impressed that by 1991, in a career of 25 years, Rajesh Khanna had worked in 153 films. He was the lone star in 101 films, while 21 films were multi-starrer. The popularity and busyness of Rajesh Khanna at that time was that three of his films were being released every year. However, who knew that in the future, Amitabh Bachchan will replace Rajesh Khanna stardom. Later, Amitabh Bachchan gained popularity as ‘Angry Young Man of Bollywood’.
When Amitabh said, man what does this man eat: According to the book, Amitabh Bachchan had said in an interview that he never believed that he could play the lead role. Amitabh always used to think that he is not good looking and he will never look like Rajesh Khanna. Even Amitabh Bachchan, while looking at a picture of Rajesh Khanna in Filmfare, said, ‘Man, what does this man eat? How are its cheeks so red? ‘ Amitabh always dreamed of working with Rajesh Khanna and his dream came true with films like Anand and Namak Haram.