1975 was a milestone year in Hindi cinema since the year saw the release of the evergreen blockbuster Sholay, a movie that has gone down in history as a cult classic. The massive success of Sholay, sometimes, overshadows yet another successful film with much of the same star cast, that was released in 1975 as well. Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan starred in yet another movie apart from Sholay that year and the film was Chupke Chupke, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
Do you know that Amitabh Bachchan was keen on playing a second lead in this film, even though his popularity had soared post-Zanjeer? After appearing in a few unsuccessful and moderately successful films in the early 70s, Amitabh Bachchan shot to stardom with the 1974 action film Zanjeer, which established his ‘angry young man’ image. After Zanjeer, Amitabh started being counted among the top league of actors in Bollywood.
When Hrishikesh Mukherjee was making the lighthearted comedy Chupke Chupke, he cast Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore in the leading roles and wanted a new face for the second lead role in the film. However, since both Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan were fans of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s work, they insisted on playing the second lead couple. Hirishikesh Mukherjee, given Amitabh’s rising popularity at that time, was hesitant to cast him. He also was making the film on a meagre budget and did not think he would be able to afford Amitabh and Jaya. It was then that Amitabh and Jaya decided not to charge a single penny for Chupke Chupke and convinced the director to cast them in the film.
Chupke Chupke was a highly successful venture at the box office and had all the elements of the brand of comedy that Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films were famous for. Made on a budget of Rs 15 lakh, it grossed Rs 1.5 crore at the box office. The movie also starred seasoned actors like Om Prakash, Usha Kiran and Asrani.
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