Big B on 42 years of Don

Amitabh Bachchan’s cult hit Don was released 42 years ago on this day, and the veteran actor took to social media to reminisce about the film. He recalled why the distributors were not happy with the film’s title. The actor took to his blog to write about the Chandra Barot-directed film that was scripted by the hit writer-duo of the era, Salim-Javed. Big B had a double role, along with Zeenat Aman, Pran, Iftekar and Om Shivpuri in pivotal roles. “When Chandra and Salim-Javed announced the name of the film as ‘DON’ .. no distributor was willing to accept the title .. they all thought it to be named after the DAWN underwear .. a popular brand during those times… The film Godfather was just making a mark in film circles .. the word ‘Don’ was unknown till then,” he wrote.

Prized memories

He also shared a few stills from the film, including one from the sets of the evergreen song, Khaike paan Banaraswaala. He was working in “two-three shifts per day” on “different films” in those days. “It was an action sequence .. had injured my feet .. blisters all around .. and came to Mehboob Studios from China Creek to shoot this number .. had to dance bare feet .. blisters were impossible to walk on .. so what .. called the doc .. took anaesthesia injections in the feet and worked the four-five days that took to shoot it,” he wrote. — IANS