दीवार

After the success of Zanjeer (1973) and Majboor (1974), Amitabh Bachchan became extremely popular, so there was a huge frenzy around Deewar. Fans queued from Marine Drive to Minerva (Mumbai) at the film's premiere. The sheer madness surrounding the film caught everyone completely unprepared, as nobody had anticipated this kind of gangster hysteria.

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Amitabh Bachchan shot Sholay (1975) and Deewaar at the same time. Because most of his scenes showed him indoors or in the dark, he shot Sholay in the morning and Deewaar at night.

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Amitabh Bachchan noticed that the cool shirt he was wearing was too long, so he tucked it halfway in. It became a style statement.

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Deewar ran for more than 100 weeks. It is one of 13 films between the 1970s and 1980s that grossed over 1 crore rupees in every region of India. It was classified as an "all time earner" and a super hit, and was counted among the industry's top 10 highest-grossing films of its day.

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Salim and Javed had offered the script to Yash Chopra before Zanjeer's premiere. They asked for 1 lakh, and Yash Chopra laughed in their faces and said never. After Zanjeer became a blockbuster, they approached Yash Chopra again. This time they asked for 3 lakh, and Yash Chopra gave it to them.

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The dialogue in Vijay's death scene was improvised; Yash Chopra gave Amitabh Bachchan the space to say whatever came to his mind.

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The temple scene in Deewar was one of the hardest scenes Amitabh Bachchan ever shot, and when he saw the script he told Javed Akhtar he could not do it, even though everything on set was ready by then. Yash Chopra came to the set and told everyone to prepare for the scene. Amitabh Bachchan said he could not do it, and Yash Chopra asked him to take some time. Amitabh Bachchan went to his room at 11 in the morning and stayed there. He rehearsed in front of the mirror until 10 pm but nothing worked; finally Yash Chopra came and told him it had been a long time and they had to shoot the scene, so Amitabh Bachchan went to the set and completed it. When the film was released, it turned out to be the most iconic scene in Indian cinema.

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For the role of Vijay Verma, Yash Chopra wanted Rajesh Khanna, but Salim-Javed were determined that the role go to Amitabh after a misunderstanding with Khanna.

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Parveen Babi's character was a modern, liberated woman shown smoking, drinking and not hesitating about premarital sex. No leading actress had ever taken on such a bold role in Indian films before.

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After the film's success, Salim-Javed were asking for 8 lakh rupees. At the time, that amount was unheard of in Bollywood.

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The mother's role was almost offered to Waheeda Rehman, but Yash Chopra had already cast her as Amitabh Bachchan's wife in Kabhi Kabhie (1976). He was worried that if Kabhi Kabhie (1976) were released first, the public would not accept her as Amitabh Bachchan's mother. Vyjayanthimala was approached next, but she turned it down. Finally it was offered to Nirupa Roy. From this point on, Nirupa continued to play Amitabh Bachchan's mother in many of his films; the last film in which she played his mother was the 1999 release Lal Badshaah, which did not do well.

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Amitabh Bachchan's role was broadly based on the famous Bombay smuggler Haji Mastan.

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Gulshan Rai read the film's script twice, and both times he was so moved that tears streamed from his eyes.

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Amitabh did not dub for the famous temple scene because during dubbing he could not capture the emotions perfectly and felt the dubbing would ruin the effect.

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The film won many awards but missed the best actor award, which went to Sanjeev Kumar for his role in Aandhi (1975).

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Yash Chopra's editor Pran Mehra was directing a film called "Gardish" with Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi and Neetu Singh. The editor passed away during the film's shooting. When Yash heard the script of Deewar from Salim-Javed, he was afraid someone else would write it. So he scrapped Gardish (which was already being shot) and started Deewar.

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Yash Chopra, Nirupa Roy and Shashi Kapoor worked with Amitabh Bachchan for the first time. Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan had previously shot for "Bombay Talkie" (1970) during Amitabh Bachchan's difficult days, in which he played a mourner at a funeral. Shashi Kapoor had edited the footage because playing small roles would hold back Amitabh Bachchan's career.

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Shashi Kapoor, who plays Amitabh Bachchan's younger brother in this film, is actually four years older than him.

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Yash Chopra initially wanted Dev Anand to play Vijay and Rajesh Khanna to play his younger brother Ravi. Gulshan Rai, who had previously worked with Dev Saab on Johny Mera Naam, and Yash Chopra's Joshila suggested Dev Anand's name for the role of Vijay. However, Dev was not very interested in taking the role because he found the plot too clichéd and predictable, with one brother a criminal and the other an honest policeman, so Rajesh Khanna's dream of working with matinee idol Dev Anand never came true. When things did not work out with Dev, Yash wanted to cast Rajesh Khanna as Vijay and Navin Nischol as his brother Ravi. But fate was not in Rajesh Khanna's favor this time either, as he had date problems, so the roles ultimately went to Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor respectively, and they said the rest was history.

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After Salim-Javed finished the script for this film, the first person they thought of was not a producer or director but the actor they believed would be the perfect choice for the lead: Amitabh Bachchan. Salim and Javed then approached director Yash Chopra, who after hearing the summary called producer Gulshan Rai, editor Pran Mehra and assistant director Ramesh Talwar for a narration. This was where Salim-Javed hit their first obstacle: although their script had been accepted, Gulshan Rai wanted Rajesh Khanna for the lead because he had already given the actor a signing amount. Salim, in the role of Javed, had to do some persuading to change Rai's mind and reach an agreement that Amitabh Bachchan would play the lead in the film.

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Rajnikanth's "Ilaaka" was the dubbed Hindi version of the Tamil film "Thee". "Thee" was a remake of Amitabh's film Deewar.

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The title music was composed for Joshila and used in that film. It was later reused in Yaarana.

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Nirupa Roy appeared on all the posters on which Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor were billed as supporting actors in the film. The lead actors Neetu Singh and Parveen Babi were barely visible on the posters.

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Salim-Javed wrote the script in 18 days.

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As noted before, this film is generally based on the 1961 film Ganga Jamuna, starring Dilip Kumar and Nasir Khan. Dilip Kumar is Amitabh Bachchan's real-life idol, and in an earlier interview Amitabh said of him: "Dilipsaab is the best actor India has produced, and Ganga Jamuna is Dilipsaab's best performance, and he missed the best actor award. If an actor like that misses the best actor award for a film like Ganga Jamuna, then who are we to complain." Coincidentally, Amitabh Bachchan also missed the best actor award for Deewaar.

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The English dubbed version of the film was titled I'll Die For Mama.

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Rajesh Khanna and Navin Nischol were the original choices for the film. Rajesh Khanna was not giving time to the film, which was delaying the schedule. Yash Chopra therefore called him and told him he would take Amitabh Bachchan instead and would keep the signing amount himself. Navin Nischol was later chosen because he did not want to play a supporting role to Amitabh Bachchan, who had played a supporting role alongside him in Parwaana (1971).

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Because producer Gulshan Rai was sceptical about the film's prospects, feeling it did not have enough songs, the qawwali song picturised on Aruna Irani was shot and added after the film was completed.

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Amitabh Bachchan found two much-remembered scenes in this film very difficult to perform: the temple scene, in which his character Vijay rebukes God and begs him for his mother's life, and the climax, in which he dies in his mother's lap. Because it would be very difficult to recreate the impact of his lines in the studio, it was decided that Amitabh would not dub these scenes. As a result, some unwanted ambient sounds can be heard in these scenes: the sound of the moving camera trolley can be heard in the temple scene, and the sound of a clock can be heard in the climax.

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Navin Nischol was the first choice for the role of Ravi Verma, and Vyjanthimala was the first choice to play the mother. Both turned down the offer of this film when they learned that Rajesh Khanna was not taking on the role of Vijay Verma.

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Amitabh felt the temple scene was the hardest scene; he was not ready to shoot it because he speaks against God, and after being persuaded all day he finally shot the scene at 23:00 at night.

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The film's main source of inspiration came from another classic Indian film, "Ganga Jumna" (1961).

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Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan would also play brothers in "Suhaag" (1979). Nirupa Roy would again play their mother in that film.

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Salim-Javed drew inspiration from classic films with warring brothers, such as Mother India (1957) and Ganga Jamuna (1961).

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The producers thought the actor Rajesh Khanna would be perfect for the role of Vijay. However, the screenwriters Salim-Javed approved Amitabh Bachchan, who ultimately played the role.

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Salim and Javed denied the story that Rajesh Khanna was in their minds for Deewar. They stated that they showed Yash Chopra the trailer of Zanjeer and that he was very pleased with Amitabh. He asked Salim-Javed to write a script with Amitabh in mind. Deewar was born that way.

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Amitabh Bachchan's character was based on the port smuggler Haji Mastan. Madan Puri's character was based on Haji Mastan's rival Sukkur Narayan Bakhia.

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Many people say there is no scene between Amitabh and Neetu Singh in Deewar, but this is wrong. There is a small scene between these two legends in which Shashi Kapoor leaves for police training and Amitabh and Nirupa Roy come to see him off. After a while Neetu Singh also arrives there, and Amitabh tells Shashi Kapoor that his choice was a good one.

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Deven Verma signed the film and shot a small role as a porter. He filmed for the song Idhar Ka Maal Udhar. For unknown reasons the role was edited out.

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