Abhishek Bachchan expresses a desire to remake Abhimaan with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra; the director reveals that he has the story idea

By Fenil Seta -

August 7, 2021 - 10:00 AM IST

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s connection with the Bachchan family goes back a long way. When he was making his mark in the ad world, he got a chance to direct Amitabh Bachchan in an ad for BPL. He also directed the music video of 'Eir Bir Phatte', featuring Big B, in the mid-90s. If all had gone as per the plan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra would have directed Abhishek Bachchan’s debut film, Samjhauta Express. The film was shelved and Rakeysh and Abhishek finally collaborated on Delhi-6 (2009).

Abhishek Bachchan expresses a desire to remake Abhimaan with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra; the director reveals that he has the story idea

Rakeysh has written extensively about his experience of making this film in his autobiography ‘The Stranger In The Mirror’, co-authored by Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta. What’s also interesting is that it also consists of the first-person account of Abhishek Bachchan, who shares some excellent and relatively unknown trivia.

Sonam Kapoor in her account had touched upon the fact that the whole unit was put up at Nandan Greens near Jaipur, Rajasthan. Abhishek in his account has written at length about life in this gated community. He said in his free time in the evenings, he and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra would cycle while Deepak Dobriyal would be flying a kite. He said, "Being naughty around Waheeda (Rehman) aunty is normal. I have played in her Bangalore farmhouse even as a child. So she knows me as a badmaash."

Abhishek Bachchan then wrote that he made the cast and crew happy by preparing a special concoction with walnut, ghee, mirchi and chaat masala for everyone. He then spoke highly of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra especially for never screaming and getting angry on the sets. "To see a creative genius who doesn't hide his flaws behind the word 'temperamental' - it was wonderful," remarked Abhishek.

Abhishek Bachchan also revealed that Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra was conflicted about the ending of the film. The filmmaker then shot two versions - one in which Abhishek's character Roshan Mehra dies and the other in which he survives. The latter was Abhishek's preferred version and that's what made it to the final cut.

Finally, Abhishek Bachchan expressed a wish that Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra should direct him in the remake of the classic film Abhimaan (1973). Further, Abhishek writes that Rakeysh has the script of this film ready and has titled it Bhairavi, after his daughter. Interestingly, Abhimaan, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, starred Abhishek's parents, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan.

When Bollywood Hungama exclusively spoke to Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the filmmaker was asked to comment on Abhimaan. To which he said, “I have the story idea. But it’s not turned into a script yet. Converting it into the script takes time. I’d most certainly like to make Abhimaan remake someday if everything falls in place.”

Also Read: Abhishek Bachchan was supposed to play a Pakistani terrorist in his debut film Samjhauta Express; was to be directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra