Think of me as a villain, not your uncle: Pran put Amitabh at ease during a scene in Zanzeer 


Amitabh was a little nervous during the opening scene between him and Pran 


By Rajesh Ahuja 


Prakash Mehra's Zanzeer saw Amitabh Bachchan rise on the Bollywood skyway as the new 'angry young man '. 


However, a crucial scene between him and veteran actor Pran,  which was among the scenes which established him as 'angry young man', saw Amitabh experience nervousness. It was only  after Pran  put him at ease that Amitabh  could do the scene well enough. 



Amitabh Bachchan was nervous during the opening scene between him and Pran in Zanzeer 




The scene being referred to was the one where the character Vijay,  a police inspector who has been transferred to a new area, summons the bad man Sher Khan (Pran) to the police station. When Sher Khan arrives at the police station and is about to sit on the chair lying opposite the police inspector,  Amitabh kicks the chair away and says 'yeh police station Hai, tumhaare baap ka ghar nahin(this is the police station,  not your father's house)'. 


To which Pran replies 'tum vardi pehne hue ho. So aisa bol rahe ho. Itne salon mein kisine mujhse aisa nahin kaha(you can speak like this because you are wearing the uniform. It been a long time since someone has spoken to me like this)'. 


According to the biography of Pran, Amitabh's Allahabad tehzeeb and his Sherwood college upbringing, coupled with the fact that he was a friend of Pran's younger son Tunni, were making it difficult for the well behaved soft spoken young man to convey the right amount of anger required for the scene. 


Speaking about the incident , Pran said, 'the scene demanded that he(Amitabh Bachchan) kick the chair away from me with much force. But when it came to Amitabh actually doing the scene, he simply could not bring himself to kick the chair away from  me with enough force.' 


Sensing Amitabh's discomfort,  Pran  attempted to put him at ease by telling him to look at the person standing before him as a villain and not his uncle. 


'I knew what was happening inside him so I told him, 'don't think of me as your uncle. Think of meas a villain.  Forget the uncle and kick the Chair. Only then could he do the scene well enough. He was so respectful.  He is a very fine man, 'Pran said of Amitabh. 


Amitabh Bachchan, who made his Hindi film debut in Khwaja Ahmed Abbas's 'Saat Hindustani', starred in several box office failures like 'Parwana', Reshma Aur Shera', 'Ek Nazar', 'Raste Ka Pathar' , 'Sanjog' and Guddi', till Prakash Mehra's Zanzeer skyrocketed him to fame as the new 'angry young man ' of Bollywood.  


'Released in 1973, Zanzeer ', directed by Prakash Mehra,  starred Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role with Jaya Bhaduri,  Pran and Ajit featuring in pivotal roles. 

Also Read 


You look younger than the hero: Nargis complemented Pran after watching Zanzeer 

https://raju0568.blogspot.com/2025/04/look-younger-than-hero-nargis.html


Mumtaz,  not Jaya Bhaduri, was the original choice for female lead in Prakash Mehra's Zanzeer 


Zanzeer: the musical chairs for the casting of hero before entry of Amitabh Bachchan 


https://raju0568.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-musical-chairs-for-casting-of-hero.html


When Pran charged just one rupee from Raj Kapoor for Bobby 



Pran and Dev Anand: a lucky combination in Bollywood 










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