Amitabh Bachchan has been a part of some of the most comical, wonderful, relatable moments of commercial Hindi cinema. One of his early ones, which is the iconic drunk scene from the 1977 Manmohan Desai release, Amar Akbar Anthony. Yes, the one where Senior Bachchan speaks to the mirror as a confidant, as another being and an intimate friend who he is disappointed with.
The almost three-minute sequence sees an inebriated Anthony (played by Bachchan) discussing the beating he has recently received, with himself. Only, Anthony is too intoxicated to realise that he is speaking to his reflection in the mirror, and not to another person. A bruised and battered Bachchan slurs his words as he admonishes his ‘friend’ for getting thrashed by some goons. The acting was top notch, perfectly suited for the kind of masala film Amar Akbar Anthony was. Especially the portion when the actor proceeds to put bandage on his reflection in the mirror. You cannot help but feel pity for the man, while trying to hold back your laughter, of course.
But did you know how that scene came to be? Both Bachchan and Manmohan Desai were also shooting another film at the time called Parvarish on another floor in the RK studio. In fact, as per Shabana Azmi, they were both filming the climax of Parvarish while shooting this scene. Azmi, while speaking to Mumbai Mirror, said, “MD (Manmohan Desai) and AB (Amitabh Bachchan) would flit from one floor to the other. In fact, I watched Amitabh give 14 perfect takes of that famous drunken scene where he puts bandage on his reflection in the mirror. He got it right each time, but it was difficult for the camera, because it was complicated. Amitabh did not express his frustration even once. Then both of them hopped over to the next floor to the Parvarish set, where the climax was being filmed. If you narrate this to a Hollywood star, he would faint.”
Actors famously would work multiple shifts and film as many as 10-15 films a year, hoping against hope that at least a few of them would mint big bucks. As it turned out, Amar Akbar Anthony did manage to make the box office sing, earning Rs 15.5 crore at the time, a sizeable amount in the late 70s. In fact, even Big B had himself shared an anecdote regarding the film in one of his social media posts, writing, “Scene shot for Amar Akbar Anthony at RK Studios fl 3 , ManMohan Desai director .. we were shooting 2 films simultaneously .. PARVARISH and AAA .. both in RK Studios .. first on fl 1, a climax action with Vinod , Amjad and me .. and this scene with me on fl 3 .. Man ji said to me, you rehearse this mirror scene ‘main zara us floor pe shot lekar aata hoon’ .. but when he came back I had already done the scene and shot it with the ASST., .. a basic idea given by Kader Bhai .. rest is all impromptu , ad lib , one take .. !!.” Desai was taken aback that such a big scene in terms of how it is supposed to tickle the audience, was shot without the filmmaker! And when he finally got to see the final version in print almost a month later, he was quite pleased with Amitabh’s performance, telling him affectionately, “Lalla! you are going to work in every film of mine that I make, until you say no.”
While the rest of the movie might not have completely aged well, but Amitabh Bachchan’s drunken bit has gone on to achieve an almost cult-like status in popular culture.
Amar Akbar Anthony is available to stream on MX Player, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video.
"Scene" - Google News
April 09, 2023 at 10:05AM
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When Shabana Azmi said Amitabh Bachchan’s legendary drunk scene from Amar Akbar Anthony was shot without director Manmohan Desai: ‘He gave 14 perfect takes’ - The Indian Express
"Scene" - Google News
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