Amitabh Bachchan’s powerful stint in Shahenshah is one of the actor’s most memorable roles. The 1988 movie was nothing short of a blockbuster, where the superstar portrayed both a cop and a vigilante who hunts down criminals. His portrayal of the latter with grey hair and a steel arm became an instant hit with the audience. But did you know that this was not the first costume finalised by the makers? Tinnu Anand, the director, recently disclosed that the steel outfit was not their original option and that the designer took his first choice and gave it to Jeetendra.
In a conversation with Radio Nasha, Tinnu Anand said, “I designed the costume personally. With the help of Amitabh’s designer, we came up with a black leather outfit: black pants, black shoes, and black boots. I even added a rope around his shoulder, though that idea was later dropped. Then, what Akbar (Amitabh’s designer) did was, he cheated on me. He gave that costume to Jeetendra. If you see his film, he’s wearing the same costume, just with the rope. I was angry, disappointed, and hurt.” Reportedly, Jeetendra was seen wearing the costume in the film Aag Aur Shola, starring Sridevi.
The director was quite upset about the whole scenario and decided to never work with the designer again. When Amitabh was back on set, he asked Tinnu about the costume. The director narrated the entire incident, and the question that propped up then was: Who would design this costume now? Tinnu Anand already had a plan in mind; he decided to collaborate with Kishore Bajaj, another well-known designer at the time.
Tinnu Anand and the designer went through several magazines and clothes to get inspiration, and “finally, we landed up on an ad by a French company who designed fencing clothes, sword fencing. And there was this ad of this arm, starting from the shoulder to the wrists, and that was fascinating. So I said, ‘Do you think you can design this?’” The designer warned him that this would take a lot of time and money, but Tinnu Anand had made up his mind and asked him to make this costume. The director revealed that the steel arm weighed 14 kg.
Once Kishore Bajaj brought in the costume, it was indeed very heavy, and Amitabh Bachchan was in doubt if he would wear it during the fight sequences. The director encouraged him to try, and once he did, the actor was “very impressed” and finalised it for the film.
Amitabh Bachchan starred in the film along with Meenakshi Sheshadri. The story of the film was written by Jaya Bachchan, and the screenplay was done by Inder Raj Anand.
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