Mumbai: Chehre, which releases in theatres on August 27, will see Amitabh Bachchan be credited for a ‘friendly appearance.’ But Big B actually plays an important role in the Rumi Jafry-directed mystery thriller.
Bachchan didn’t actually charge any fee from the producers and even paid for his international travel to shoot for the film. For tax-related reasons, Bachchan has been credited as making a friendly appearance in the film, revealed producer Anand Pandit in an interview.
“To avoid any trouble while filing his tax we decided to give the friendly appearance credits to Amit ji… Sir was so professional and committed that he also put his own money to commute,” Pandit told PeepingMoon.
Director Rumi said recently that Big B was their first pick for the thriller, which also features Emraan Hashmi, Krystle D’Souza, Rhea Chakraborty among others.
“After we finalised Amitabh Bachchan for Chehre, we started looking for other actors. I was looking for the second lead and Emraan fit right into the character I had envisioned,” Rumi said.
“Even though I had never worked with him (Bachchan) before, I had heard a lot about him in the industry. He is truly like Amit ji when it comes to professionalism — dedicated, hard-working and allows nothing to interfere with his work. He is very involved in the work he does. I wanted somebody just like him. When I approached him with Chehre, he, too, loved his character and was happy to come on board,” was how Rumi described the experience of working with Bachchan.
Even though he is 78, Bachchan remains one of the busiest artists. After Chehre, Big B has many more films lined up including Jhund, Brahmastra, Mayday and Goodbye. He also returned as host of Kaun Banega Crorepati’s 13th season last weekend.
