21 Years of Aankhen Exclusive: Director Vipul Shah reveals Amitabh Bachchan confirmed doing the film without taking the signing amount; says, “He was THE only choice”

On the occasion of 21 years of Aankhen, director Vipul Shah shared some lesser-known facts about his debut film.

By Jiya Chulet -

April 5, 2023 - 6:09 PM IST

Amitabh Bachchan's career in Bollywood spans over five decades and is highly respected. However, there was a time when his career was going through a rough patch. Two projects, Mohabbatein and Kaun Banega Crorepati, revived his career and cemented his position as one of the greatest actors of all time. However, during the same time, Aankhen was released, in which he was seen playing an anti-hero. Recently, director Vipul Shah, on the occasion of the film’s 21st anniversary, opened up about “creating history,” during a conversation with Bollywood Hungama.

21 Years of Aankhen Exclusive: Director Vipul Shah reveals Amitabh Bachchan confirmed doing the film without taking the signing amount; says, “He was THE only choice”

When we asked the renowned director if he ever thought that he is taking a risk by casting him as the villain, Shah asserted, “When we approached Amit Ji, KBC and Mohabbatein had not been announced or signed. In fact, we were aware that Amit ji is doing KBC but nothing of KBC had come into the public domain as far as casting him is concerned when we used to do this play, and we used to be on these tours, and we used to have these long journeys in tours, and we used to dream about various things."

“I and my writer Aatish [Kapadia] used to always say that this will be our first film together, and we will create history by casting Amit ji for the negative role, and we used to laugh about it what a dream and how it's going to be almost impossible to achieve this,” he further added. Vipul continued and said, “But to my surprise, when I met Amit ji and I narrated to him after the completion of the narration without even taking the signing amount, he confirmed that he is doing the film.”

Later, while speaking of the casting of the film, Vipul shared, “How I do casting is purely on instinct. Amit ji was always the only choice in my mind. And I was lucky to have him play that role. Paresh [Rawal], he was always the only choice in my mind. And I was again lucky to have him agree. Akshay [Kumar] and Arjun [Rampal] were also my first choice. And I'm very happy that I got them and so is so Sushmita [Sen]. But at the writing level itself, these were the names that we kept thinking about. And finally, we got them.

Besides Aankhen, the director has delivered some of the biggest hits the industry has seen with films like Namastey London, Commando, and Force amongst many others. Currently, Vipul Shah is gearing continuing the Commando franchise on OTT, which is happening for the first time in the Indian entertainment industry.

Also Read: Producer Gaurang Doshi – “No way am I selling my rights of Aankhen”