Bollywood veterans Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra’s friendship dates back to older times. They played the evergreen roles of two thick friends Jai and Veeru in the cult movie ‘Sholay.’ The on-screen friendship of these two actors transformed into off-screen camaraderie soon and they went on to set friendship goals among the youth. In fact, till today when people talk about promises in friendship, they do sing the famous Bollywood song ‘Ye Dosti‘ which featured Amitabh and Dharmendra.
Now we have come across an interesting story from the time when Sholay was about to be made. Very few people are familiar with the fact that the role of Jai in Sholay was initially was supposed to be played by Shatrughan Sinha but because of some reasons including Amitabh Bachchan asking Dharmendra to refer him for the role, Shatrughan Sinha didn’t get the role. The same was revealed by Dharmendra.
Dharmendra in an interview accepted that he played an important role in getting Amitabh Bachchan the role of Jai. He shared that he was talking about it publicly only because Amitabh Bachchan had thanked him.
Dharmendra appeared in Aap Ki Adalat in 2018. He was asked if this is a true story to which he replied in Hindi, “I’ve never spoken about this, but since Amitabh has started saying that I helped him get the role, I’ll say it: Yes, I did help him get the role. He used to come to me. But originally, the role was going to Shatrughan Sinha.”
He said that Shatrughan Sinha even spoke to him about why he suggested Amitabh’s name, and Dharmendra told him, “Yaar, kuch samajh nahi aata, woh pehle aaya, socha chalo bechare ko de do (I don’t know, he came to me first and I thought the poor guy should get it).”
A 2015 Scroll report also added context to the same story. “As his films continued to flop,” the article stated about Amitabh Bachchan, “roles became scarce.” It continued, “Ramesh (Sippy, Director) toyed with the idea of signing on Shatru but finally decided that he was too big a star. Three mega-watt stars translate into mega-watt ego problems. Ramesh had seen both Bombay to Goa and Anand and was impressed by Amitabh’s talent. Meanwhile, Amitabh had also asked Dharmendra to put in a word. The lobbying worked. Amitabh was cast as Jai.”
Earlier in an appearance on Indian Idol 12, Shatrughan Sinha attributed it to scheduling issues. He said, “During those times, I was continuously shooting for films which had two heroes and, somehow, we can call it a human error or my dates were an issue due to which I couldn’t sign the film Sholay. I’m sad but happy at the same time as due to Sholay, national icon Amitabh Bachchan, who is my dear friend, got such a big break.”
Sholay made Amitabh a star overnight. It became a turning point in his career. Since then there has been no stopping for the actor. He took the much-awaited flight in his acting career and the rest is history.