8 Ka Dum – With Big B in Sarkar 3, Ramu joins the league of extraordinary gentlemen

By Joginder Tuteja -

November 19, 2016 - 12:54 PM IST

Now this one could well find an entry into the category of 'Believe It Or Not'. While Ram Gopal Varma has started shooting with Amitabh Bachchan for Sarkar 3, he has also created a record in its own right. This is now his eight's film with the legendary actor. So what makes it special? Well, the fact that with this move, he has joined the ranks of Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the men who were the early pillars in formulating Amitabh Bachchan's film career.

8 Ka Dum – With Big B in Sarkar 3, Ramu joins the league of extraordinary gentlemen

"Hrishikesh Mukherjee started it all with the likes of Anand and Abhimaan. Prakash Mehra made Big B take a different road with Zanjeer and followed it up with Hera Pheri. On the other hand Manmohan Desai explored the comic actor in Amitabh Bachchan with Amar Akbar Anthony and then took a dramatic route with Parvarish. With these three filmmakers, there was no looking back for Amitabh Bachchan and in years to come, he did eight films each with the trio," informs a film historian.

This is not all as Big B also made a few cameo appearances for Hrishikesh Mukherjee and then featured in a few other productions of Manmohan Desai where latter was not the director.

"Now with Ram Gopal Varma, he is repeating the feat. The association that started with Sarkar [2005] is now leading to Big B's eight film, Sarkar 3, with the maverick filmmaker," an observer adds, "Though they are yet to deliver a huge grosser or commercial blockbuster together, there is something about Ramu that keeps bringing back Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of his films. They collaborated last on Department [2012] and would see the next release of theirs together, Sarkar 3, after a gap of half a decade."

Incidentally, Big B has made only five films with Yash Chopra (as a director), another man who has been instrumental in his career, right from the days of Deewar to Silsila.

"That's correct," our historian adds, "On one end, Big B is working with the new breed of filmmakers like Shoojit Sircar [Shoebite (yet to be released), Piku, Pink] and R. Balki [Cheeni Kum, Paa, Shamitabh]. On the other hand when it comes to further experimenting across varied genres, there is Ram Gopal Varma with whom he doesn't shy away from associating with time and again."

Here is the list of films that Amitabh Bachchan has made most with his select set of filmmakers:

Ram Gopal Varma (8): Sarkar, Sarkar Raj, Sarkar 3 (on floors), Darna Zaroori Hai, Nishabd, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, Department, Rann

Manmohan Desai (8): Amar Akbar Anthony, Parvarish, Suhaag, Naseeb, Desh Premee, Coolie (Prayag Raj co-directed the film), Mard, Ganga Jamuna Saraswathi