“We had our differences in the past… but he will always be the Mahanayak,” Shatrughan Sinha on his Dostana with Amitabh

Shatrughan Sinha’s voice brims over with genuine warmth while speaking about his long association with Amitabh Bachchan. “He is 80, and still going super-strong! Wah, Amitabh will always be Indian cinema’s Mahanayak. His longevity, energy level and enthusiasm are unparalleled. We don’t meet as often as I’d like to. We are both busy in our own worlds. But whenever we meet, we meet as old friends.”

But what went wrong during the making of 1980’s Dostana? Apparently, producer Yash Johar was driven up the wall by their ego clashes.

Shatrughan guffaws loudly. He doesn’t deny the differences. “Look, in Dostana and Kala Patthar some of my scenes went missing. I don’t know what happened. I am not blaming anyone. And to be honest, those days are behind us now. We are now different individuals.”

So what was the problem? “Well, to begin with, he arrived on the dot for the shooting. I was known to be a latecomer. The entire unit adjusted their watches accordingly. But he was a stickler for time. So our sense of timing was unmatched off-screen. On-screen our timing was perfectly matched.”

Shatrughan Sinha would rather talk about the happy times. “We did some outstanding work together in Bombay To Goa, Dostana, Kaala Patthar and other films. We had our differences somewhere down the line. But he was and is a caring and giving co-star, always concerned about his co-actors.”

Shatruji recalls an unknown incident from early in their career. “I remember during the shooting of our first film together Bombay To Goa in 1972 Amitabh accidentally hit my face with his elbow and my nose began to bleed profusely. There was a lot of bleeding. But he was more scared than I was. I had to calm him down, rather than the other way. Then we did other films together like Kaala Patthar and Dostana. But somehow things didn’t go well between us.”

Letting bygones be bygones Shatrughan Sinha says, “Whatever differences we had is completely in the past, over and out. We are now the best of friends. We don’t meet every day to gossip. But whenever we meet we do so with great warmth.”He panicked more than I did. I’ll never forget the look of concern and worry on his face. Today, we are both experienced, mature and hopefully, wise souls. Someone should write another film for the two of us.”

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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