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which he took a bus journey from Bombay life of crime, who becomes a notorious
to Goa, with a bunch of colourful and
eccentric co-passengers, in the pursuit of
lady love (Aruna Irani), who does not know
that the rowdy fellow in the bus is there to
protect her from murderous villains.
2 Zanjeer (1973):
Prakash Mehra cast the lanky actor in
the film scripted by rising stars of writers
Salim-Javed, when his first choices Dev
Anand and Raaj Kumar turned him down.
The film, in which he played an upright cop
on the hunt for his parents’ killer, gave him
his Angry Young Man label. The film co-
starred Jaya Bhadhuri (later to be his wife),
Pran and Ajit in roles that were landmarks
in their careers.
3 Deewaar (1975):
Salim-Javed again, this time paired with
director Yash Chopra, had Amitabh
Bachchan playing a man forced into a
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #27 | SEPTEMBER 2021
underworld figure and is pitted against his
brother (Shashi Kapoor), an honest police
officer raised right by their mother (Nirupa
Roy). Their confrontation is marked by one
of the most iconic lines in Hindi cinema,
“Mere paas maa hai” and that much-
imitated scene in a temple, with Bachchan’s
“Aaj khush to bahut hoge tum” harangue
with God.
4 Sholay (1975):
Ramesh Sippy’s film, written by Salim-
Javed, studded with memorable characters
and quotable lines, had Bachchan play the
quiet half of the two-member team (with
Dharmendra) of petty conmen, recruited by
the Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) of Ramgarh
to find the sadistic bandit Gabbar Singh
(Amjad Khan). Jai was the quietly sarcastic,
harmonica-playing, intensely romantic foil
to the loud, genial Veeru.
5 Chupke Chupke (1975):
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