Mumbai: The special Diwali episode of Amitabh Bachchan hosted ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ saw actor Varun Dhawan and director duo Raj and DK as guests.
During this special episode, the host and the guests kept the audience hooked by sharing stories from their past and present.
When the ‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’ actor Varun Dhawan lauded Big B for his iconic character in ‘Agneepath’, the latter shared a mind-boggling anecdote which many were not aware of.
Big B revealed that the initial response of the audience as the movie hit theatres was quite alarming for the makers as they created a mayhem and tore seats on the first day after hearing the heavy, modulated voice of Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (character played by Big B) in the film. The audience thought that there was a fault with the sound system in the theatre because of which they couldn’t hear Big B’s original voice. Following this, Big B had to re-dub for the entire movie overnight.
Praising the host for his role in ‘Agneepath’, Varun said, “The movie (Agneepath) is still incredible, and your character is iconic”, to this Raj and DK added, “You have been a hero for so many generations that even new actors try to capture your style in certain scenes. I tell them only you can truly embody that character.”
To this, Amitabh replied, “I will tell you a fact–some things are unplanned. On the first day of shooting, I still hadn’t figured out how to portray him. I was in the makeup room and called Mukul Anand and suggested giving Vijay a distinct, deep voice. He agreed, and that’s how we decided on it. There was a man who used to visit composers Kalyanji-Anandji’s home with a similar heavy tone, so I thought, why not model Vijay’s voice after him? Later, I found out that the man came from an underworld background, which fit the essence of Vijay’s character perfectly.”
“When the movie released, the producer called to say there was mayhem in theatres. Audiences were tearing up seats and telling the sound department, ‘This doesn’t sound like Amitabh; fix the sound system!’ So, to address it, I had to re-dub the whole film in my normal voice. But that initial voice was very impactful,” he opined.
Amitabh Bachchan received his first National Film Award for Best Actor for this film.
‘Agneepath’ narrated the story of a gangster named Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, who sought revenge from the antagonist Kancha, the man who killed his father years ago.
The film, released on February 16, 1990, also starred Mithun Chakraborty, Madhavi, Neelam Kothari, Danny Denzongpa, Alok Nath and Rohini Hattanga.