40 years of 'Don': A film Bollywood rejected, people accepted

"Don" was a Salim-Javed script that many big stars in the industry had passed on but Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman and director Chandra Barot decided to take on the "difficult" project to pull one of their friends out of debt.

Released on May 12, 1978, "Don" featuring Bachchan in a double role, that of a mafioso and a simpleton went on to become a blockbuster with its racy music, iconic dialogues and pulsating action.

In an interview with PTI, Chandra traces the birth of "Don", how several stars rejected the film and how he once made Bachchan eat 40 'paans' just to get a scene right.

Chandra was the long-time assistant director of Manoj Kumar and became friends with Bachchan and Zeenat during the shooting of "Roti Kapda Aur Makaan". He also developed a close bond with the cinematographer of the film, Nariman Irani, whom they fondly called 'Bawa'.

In 1972, Irani produced Sunil Dutt-Waheeda Rehman starrer "Zindagi Zindagi", but the film bombed and Irani found himself in debt.

"Because we all were working together Amitabh, Zeenat and Pran saab -- we were friends. We decided to make a film for Bawa to help him come out of the financial mess. Even Manoj ji suggested the same. But we didn't have a script," Chandra says.

As luck would have it, Irani's wife was Waheeda's hairdresser and knew writer Salim Khan.

"We asked her to put in a word for us. When we met Salim, he didn't have a script ready but told us, 'There is one subject which no one understands'. In the '70s, we had 'thakurs' and no one had heard the word 'Don'.

"Dharmendra, Jeetendra and Dev Anand had refused the film. But we said, 'We don't care, we just want 'Salim-Javed' written on the posters'. It was a ready script and we took it immediately. It didn't even have a title. Everyone in the industry called it 'Don waali script'," Chandra recalls.

The first day of the film was to begin with the shooting of "Yeh Mera Dil Pyaar Ka Deewana" but they did not have enough money, so Chandra took Rs 40,000 cash from his sister, singer Kamal Barot, and the set was created.

"There was a scene in Shah Rukh Khan's 'Don' remake, where he jumps off a plane. That single shot's budget was our entire films budget - nearly 84 lakhs," Chandra quips.

It was not just Helen's "Yeh Mera Dil" which became popular, Bachchan's "Khaike Pan Banaraswala" also became a talking point of the film.

The song was added after the film was complete and Manoj Kumar had a role in getting the song included the last moment.

"Manoj ji saw the film and he was angry. He said, 'Second half of the film is so tight, there is no loo break! Please add a song so that people can go to the washroom'."
"We got our scene, but the next day he could not speak as his tongue was cut because of the 'chuna' in the 'paan'. So the next day we ordered 'paan' without 'chuna' in it. Though Amitabh still scolded me!"
"Before the release, we all let go of our remuneration. Amitabh was signed for two-and -a-half lakhs, he let go his one-and-a-half lakhs, Zeenat let go her one-and-a-half lakhs, Pran saab was the highest paid, five lakhs, even he left half of his money. I let go of mine too."