Silsila

Amitabh Bachchan was deeply involved in the music of Silsila. This resulted in the Holi song "Rang Barse", which Amitabh Bachchan sang and which was composed by his father, Harivansh Rai Bachchan.

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Silsila was the last film pairing Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha. Although the rumoured connection between them was never confirmed, they were never cast together again, and it is unlikely they will ever appear together in the same film.

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This is the only film in which Shashi Kapoor played Amitabh Bachchan's elder brother. In all their other films as brothers, Amitabh Bachchan is the elder one.

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Miss Asia Quest 1979, Maureen Mary Lestourgeon (Nisha), was approached for the role of Rekha (the first "second"). Yash Chopra wanted to cast her in the film. However, at the time she did not want to pursue a career as an actress. She is now a nun in Mumbai.

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This was the debut of the composer duo Shiv-Hari, made up of the musicians Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hari Prasad Chaurasia.

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Since Yash Chopra cast Amitabh Bachchan in every one of his films up to and including Silsila, Yash Chopra then took another hero and worked with Shah Rukh Khan in every film.

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After the film failed, a very bitter dispute arose between Yash Chopra and Amitabh Bachchan. Years later, when Toofan and Jaadugar were released, Yash Chopra stated in the press that Amitabh Bachchan was professionally a dishonest actor. Yash said that Amitabh played the magician in both films but did not tell Manmohan Desai and Prakash Mehra about it. This angered Amitabh, who retaliated very harshly in the press. Yash Chopra stated that when he decided to remove Parveen Babi and Smita Patil from Silsila, he asked Amitabh to give them the news. Amitabh said that when Yash asked him to tell the cast that the casting had changed, both heroines were doing their makeup on set. Amitabh angrily asked where Yash Chopra's professional integrity was. He felt Yash Chopra should have told them himself. Amitabh then said that Gulshan Rai and Yash Chopra had fallen out over financial problems. Amitabh implied that Yash had not been honest with Gulshan and had taken a lot of money. Amitabh said that Yash Chopra cheated his own staff. Yash owed money to Romesh Sharma and several others. Where was Yash Chopra's professional integrity then?

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Many casting changes were made for this film. The original stars were Amitabh Bachchan, Padmini Kolhapure and Parveen Babi. Smita Patil then replaced Padmini Kolhapure, before the cast was completed with Jaya Bachchan, who was suggested by Amitabh Bachchan, and Rekha.

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In the film, a drunk Amitabh and Shashi Kapoor sing the song "Neeche Paan Ke Dukaan Upar Gori Ka Makaan". Years later, the song inspired "Neeche Phoolon Ke Dukaan Upar Ka Makaan" in the Govinda film Joru Ka Ghulam.

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The song "Dekha Ek Khwab" was shot in Keukenhof, Amsterdam's famous garden. It was Amitabh who suggested they shoot the song there. He had visited the place years earlier. A crew of 15 flew out for the shoot. The best hotel, the Okura, was booked for the film unit. Amitabh and Rekha got into a small lovers' quarrel. While shooting the song, Rekha asked for several retakes. Amitabh was standing next to the cameraman and said, "Saali Take Pe Take Mangti Hain". Rekha was offended and, as soon as the shot ended, walked out and cried loudly. The whole unit could do so. Amitabh tried to reconcile with her, but she would not agree to any of it. Rekha asked Amitabh how he could insult her like that in front of the entire unit. The unit had to spend the whole day recovering, causing heavy losses.

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The climax of Silsila was being shot at Filmcity. When the plane crashes, a fire sequence breaks out. Sanjeev Kumar is caught in the fire and Rekha rushes to save him. Amitabh and Jaya also reach that spot to save Sanjeev. As Amitabh runs to save Sanjeev, Jaya grabs Rekha and pushes her out. This was the scene that had to be shot. Just before the scene was filmed, Rekha told the cameraman that the shot had to be cancelled in one take. Rekha stated that she would refuse to shoot the scene again. She told the cameraman that she did not care whether he got the shot right. She was going to leave. The shot began, Jaya pushed Rekha, but unfortunately Jaya also accidentally went out of frame. Jaya was supposed to turn and look at the camera in the same frame. Instead, the duppatta on her shoulders slipped and she stayed in frame. Rekha knew the shot had gone wrong but did not care. She went and got into her car. The cameraman did not believe Rekha was serious, or he would have informed Yash Chopra. The whole unit stood there in shock. Amitabh was sitting in his chair and watched what happened. He gave Jaya a stern look and asked her what had happened. Jaya was in tears and told Amitabh that she had said nothing to Rekha. Rekha refused to come back and shoot the scene.

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This is the only film in which Jaya played Shashi Kapoor's love interest. She had never acted opposite him before.

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Jaya Bachchan was quite reluctant to sign the film. During the narration she was rather indifferent. What finally made her say yes was the climax scene in which Amitabh returns to his wife.

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The musician Rahul Sharma said of his father Shivkumar Sharma: "While my father was working on the music for Silsila (1981), they were sitting at Yashji's (Chopra; the late filmmaker) house. We (Rahul and his elder brother Rohit) were children and we were there. As a child growing up in the late 70s and late 80s, Amitabh Bachchan was the family favourite. When he walked in he said, from 'Arey yahaan' to 'Poori baccha party to yahoo par hai' (the children are having fun here). We kept staring at him. He had come for a discussion about 'Rang barse' (Bachchan sang the song in Silsila). We were in awe of him and my father was explaining the song to him. That is one of the many moments etched in my memory."

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Amitabh Bachchan would sing the folk songs that form the basis of "Rang Barse Bheege Chunarwali" and "Mere Angne Mein" ("Laawaris", 1981) at his home every Holi. Yash Chopra once heard him sing the song and asked him to sing a version of it for this film. Amitabh's father, the poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, was responsible for the lyrics of the song. The folk music on which this song is based had previously been used in another Holi song, "Holi Khele Nandlala Biraj Mein" ("Rahi", 1953).

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This is the last film shot at Srinagar airport, more than 37 years ago.

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Yash Chopra had an idea and decided to cash in on the real-life drama between Amitabh, Jaya and Rekha. Amitabh was a partner in Yashraj Films for Silsila, though this was never made public. It was Yash Chopra who asked Amitabh to see whether Jaya and Rekha would agree to do the film. Yash was doubtful about the answer, as he did not expect Jaya to agree. Amitabh then wanted Rekha for the film. She accepted instantly, as she never said no to Amitabh.

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Rekha stated that the film failed because Jaya Bachchan demanded changes to the script. This altered the original screenplay. Another factor was that Jaya Bachchan's character initially played a 'Bhabhi' figure to Amitabh. The audience did not like this. Another factor Rekha mentioned was that the film was promoted as a real-life story. Silsila was fictional and was not based on facts. This misled the public. During the making of the film, Rekha and Jaya had separate makeup rooms. Unless they had to shoot a scene, they did not meet or interact with each other. This kind of atmosphere turned out to be toxic, and perhaps the bad vibes were unlucky for Silsila. Also, the ending was not very convincing. Yash should have been brave enough to show Amitabh and Rekha uniting.

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The dubbing of Silsila was a different story altogether. Amitabh is usually quick with dubbing. However, for Silsila he was reportedly in no hurry. On the first day he dubbed for an hour. But afterwards he began cancelling dubbing sessions, causing delays. Sometimes he was not in the mood. On some days his voice was not good. Yash Chopra only understood later what the problems were. Amitabh was the Bombay distributor of Yaarana. The film had been completed 2 years earlier but got stuck in a lawsuit and was finally allowed to be released. Yaarana was reshot for 30 days at Amitabh's insistence. This was done to improve the film and make it fresh. The premiere date was set for 31 July 1981. Amitabh did not want the Silsila premiere to affect Yaarana. It was reported that Amitabh delayed his dubbing in order to postpone Silsila. Yash was reported to be hurt and said that if Amitabh had told him the situation, he would have postponed Silsila to help him. In the end, Silsila was moved from 31 July 1981 to 14 August 1981.

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After Silsila, Raj Kapoor also went to the Netherlands to shoot a song for Prem Rog. Nearly 20 years later, Yash Chopra's Hum Tum was also shot in the Netherlands.

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Yash Chopra kept Silsila's songs hidden and released them only a few days before the film's premiere. Feroz Khan did the same thing for his film Janbaaz.

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The premiere of the film's popular dialogues was released on a separate LP record.

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The background music in Silsila included an instrumental that was later turned into the song "Zindagi har janam pyaar ki dastaan" in Yash Chopra's Vijay, starring Anil, Rishi, Meenakshi and Sonam.

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Rekha came to Raj Kamal to do her dubbing. Before dubbing, however, she insisted on seeing her songs. The songs were shown to her. After watching her songs, Rekha asked where the rest of the songs were. The film's unit was hesitant to show her Jaya Bachchan's songs. The unit refused at first, but Rekha said she would not leave or dub until she saw Jaya's songs. In the end they gave in and played the songs for Jaya. While watching, Rekha praised Jaya, but with great sarcasm in her tone. This went on for hours, with the unit forced to listen to Rekha's comments.

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After Silsila, Yash Chopra directed Amitabh Bachchan again in Veer Zaara, about 23 years later.

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Silsila was Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan's comeback film and the only film she worked on with Yash Chopra.

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A story circulating in the industry was that Amitabh took Parveen Babi out of Silsila. The reason was that Prakash Mehra told Amitabh he was suing Parveen Babi for damages worth 18 lakh (she had left Namak Halaal) and that she would soon have to flee and leave the industry. Mehra told Bachchan that Silsila would not be made because Parveen would soon leave the industry. Fearing the film would be delayed, Bachchan told this to Yash Chopra, and it was decided to remove Parveen Babi.

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The opening dholak of the song "Yeh Ladki Hain Shola" was sampled by the Fiji Indian artist Kaiindia for his song "Nahin Daddy" on the album What is Taki.

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Rekha's screen name is the title of Yash Chopra's next film, Chandni.

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The film was released in cinemas in Canada.

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Lata Mangeshkar's lines in Silsila's song "Yeh Ladki Hain Ya Shola", "Jaa Re Shikaari Tera Jaal Purana, Jaa Kahin Aur Daal Dana", sound the same as Ila Arun's lines in Khal Nayak's "Choli Ke Peeche", "Ladka Ho Kaisa Bolo, Ladka Ho Kaisa." The rhythm is the same when both singers sing their own part of the song. The original source was the Pakistani film Do Badan. The song was "Rat De Bara Waje" by Noor Jahan, with music by M. Ashraf.

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In Silsila's song "Rang Barse", a final dholak beat can be heard at 0:52, just before Amitabh begins singing. The same dholak melody/rhythm was vocally recreated by Amitabh Bachchan in the song "Pataile Humka" at 0:42 in the film Lal Baadshah.

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Yash Chopra said: "Silsila was made with the urge to make a film about extramarital relationships. These are very common in Indian society, but people shy away from talking about them. I know the audience's interest increased because of the unique cast and their personal lives. I had not planned to take Rekha or Jaya. I had signed Parveen Babi and Smita Patil. Later I realized I had gone wrong in my casting. By God's grace I pulled off a casting coup. I completed 5 schedules." Within 3 months I was told something had gone wrong between Rekha and Jaya, but they always cooperated with me. Jaya gave me dates when I offered her Silsila, and I had nothing to do with Rekha's personal problems regarding Amit. But abroad I broke all records.

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The song "Neeche Phoolon Ke Dukaan Upar Gori Ka Makaan" from Joru Ka Ghulam was originally sung by a drunk Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor in a scene in Silsila. That version, however, was "Neeche Paan Ke Dukaan Upar Gori Ka Makaan". Both songs appear to be inspired by the traditional Rajasthani folk song "Upar Kanch Ko Banglo". A version of this song was filmed on Jagdeep in the Rajasthani film Ramkudi Jhamkudi.

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Trickbaby's Nine Parts of Desire (Parde Ke Peeche) sampled "Dekha Ek Khwab".

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"Sar Se Sarke" was sampled by Trickbaby for the song "Neela".

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D Hitman's song "Rum Meh Brother Say" was a cover version of "Rang Barse".

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Dekha Ek Khwab was sampled by Sid Vashi for the song "Rane" on the album Motherland and Tourism.

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Kaiindia, a Fiji Indian artist living in the US state of California, sampled the song "Rang Barse". He sampled the classic song for use in his new song "1/5" on his first album "Straight from the Korro". The album came out in 1994. The song exists on YouTube under the name "Go Kaindia…".

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All the songs in Silsila are excellent, but the beautiful song "Khudse Kiya Vaada" was sung by Yash Chopra's wife, Pamela Chopra. It was not included in the film, and Pamela Chopra lent her voice only to Yash Chopra's films.

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In 1960 a film titled "Neela Aasman" was made and then shelved. It told the story of a priest and a beauty queen who both survived a shipwreck and were stranded on a deserted island. The story and direction were by Kishore Kumar. Years later the film's title was used as a song in Silsila.

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In an interview, Padmini Kolhapure confirmed that she was approached for the role Rekha would play, but could not accept the offer because of her contractual obligations to other producers. Yash Chopra then signed Parveen Babi and later replaced her with Rekha. Given that Padmini was only 15 or 16 at the time, her accepting the role would not have been convincing.

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The mahurat was held on 30 September 1979 (the same day as Bemisaal).

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During the song "Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum" there is an instrumental passage in which Amitabh and Rekha are on a sailboat at the beach. They are later seen together in bed. In many CDs released years later, this instrumental piece was not included.

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The shooting of Silsila was a private affair. No journalist or friend was allowed onto the sets. No one from the film was allowed to speak to the media about it either.

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Mumtaz stated that Yash Chopra offered her the role played by Rekha in the film. This was before anyone had signed for the film. She turned it down because she did not want to come out of retirement.

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Yash Chopra first wanted to make Lamhe in 1982 with Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha. However, after Silsila failed and following Yash Chopra's bitter disagreement with Amitabh Bachchan, all the plans fell through.

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After Silsila, Amitabh Bachchan and Yash Chopra came together about 20 years later in Mohabbatein, directed by Aditya Chopra.

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Yash Chopra was also making films for his brother B. R. Chopra and then for Gulshan Rai. Silsila was the first film Yash Chopra made without Gulshan Rai, and in fact Gulshan Rai did not like Silsila. The failure of Kaala Pathaar and the story of Silsila were among the reasons Gulshan Rai severed his relationship with Yash Chopra.

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After making action films such as Trishul and Kaala Pathaar, Yash Chopra returned to his Kabhi Kabie-style films by shooting Silsila. He always made two kinds of films, such as Daag & Kabhi Kabie and Deewar & Mashaal.

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After Silsila, Yash Chopra shot the action film Mashaal, then the romantic film Faasle, then the action film Vijay, and the romantic films Chandni and Lamhe, and the action films Parampara and Darr, again the romantic Dil To Pagal Hai, Veer Zaara and finally Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

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Cinematographer Kay Gee shot his last film for Yash Chopra, with whom he had worked regularly for about 10 years, from Ittefaak to Silsila. He had shot all of Yash Chopra's beautiful films. Kay Gee worked only with Yash Chopra and then died during Mashaal.

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Sushma Seth appeared in a few scenes; she had only recently started working in films in those years and later began taking on major, important roles.

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Regarding Silsila, Kulbhushan Kharbanda said, "I had made a film with Yash Chopra that I thought nobody knew about. It was Nakhuda. It was a Yash Chopra production, I think directed by his chief assistant (Dilip Naik). While doing it, he said, 'Do this film, Silsila too. When I go to a film festival, I'll only cover my expenses there.' That's how I did the role."

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The melody from the film's title sequence is used today in the opening logo of Yash Raj Films at the start of all YRF films.

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Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (Shiv) and the film's music composer Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (Hari) also appear as background artists when Amit (Amitabh Bachchan) and Sobha (Jaya Bachchan) meet for the first time at Srinagar Airport (00:20:40 - 00:20:53).

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The film featured the Punjabi shabd kirtan "Bahan Jinah Di Pakdiye" by Harbans Singh Ragi & Party. It appears at the film's climax. The song was included in the LP records released in the early 80s. Years later the song/bhajan was removed from the cassettes and the CDs that were released.

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A separate LP titled "Dialogue From Yash Chopra's Silsila - Shiv Hari, Sagar Sarhadi" was released. The record contained the spoken dialogue of several key scenes.

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The "Title Music", "Flute" and "Sintoor" instrumentals that premiered on Shiv Hari's special LP records were removed from the double film CD release. They do not appear on the Silsila/Kabhi Kabhie and Silsila/Abhimaan CDs, and they were also absent from any audio cassette.

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Amitabh sang another song about "Paan Ki Dukaan", but this time in Aaj Ka Arjun alongside Jaya Pradha.

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Rekha is seen lying on Amitabh's chest in Silsila and playing with his chest hair. Jaya Pradha does the same to Amitabh in Sharaabi while he sits on the stairs.

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In the 6:10-minute audio version of the song "Rang Barse Chunarwali" from Silsila, the instrumental of the Bhojpuri folk song "Holi Khele Raghuveera" can be heard at 1:32 and 3:46. Years later the same song was recreated in the film Baghban.

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Ladki Hai Ya Shola. The melody of this song's mukhda may have been inspired by the Dogri folk song "Jammu Diya Kandiya". That folk song was recorded by Indian politician and descendant of the royal Dogra dynasty Dr. Karan Singh for an album titled "Dogri Lok Geet".

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Dekha Ek Khwab To (Happy). The melody of this song's mukhda appears to be adapted from the Dogri folk song "Baathri Da Aaya Banjara Ho". That folk song was recorded by Indian politician and descendant of the royal Dogra dynasty Dr. Karan Singh for an album titled "Dogri Lok Geet".

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Sawaal and Silsila were being shot simultaneously with the same actors, Shashi Kapoor and Sanjeev Kumar. Yash Chopra wanted his film to release before Sawaal and asked that Sanjeev and Shashi's dates be released so he could use them for Silsila. Ramesh Talwar owed his career to Yash Chopra and agreed. However, Sawaal remained unfinished for a long time for a strange reason. After Silsila failed, Yash Chopra was not fully committed to the film, which saddened Ramesh, who had worked hard on it.

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Amitabh wore a turtleneck with a blazer in Parwana. He repeated the same look in the party scene in Silsila.

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The background music in Silsila that begins as a married Rekha opens the door resembles the first 5 seconds of the song "Rote Huye Aate Hain Sab" from Mukaddar Ka Sikander.

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Silsila followed Kaala Pathaar. Silsila was released in the same year as Kaala Pathaar. Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan were co-stars in Trishul, Kaala Pathaar and Silsila.

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