Amitabh Bachchan's 'Shaan' gave iconic villain to film industry: Learn more trivia here

Shaan is a 1980 action thriller that was directed by Ramesh Sippy and produced by G.P Sippy. The story of the film was written by the popular duo, Salim-Javed, after their previous smash hit and successful venture, Sholay. Reportedly, the film Shaan performed averagely upon its initial release, but when it was re-released, it did a great business in the long run. And eventually, the film was declared to be the highest grosser of 1980 by IBOS and reports also say that the film was classified as an All-time Blockbuster. Shaan, this Ramesh Sippy’s directorial was one of the last films to feature the vocals of Mohammed Rafi.

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The movie had Sunil Dutt, Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Rakhee Gulzar, Parveen Babi and Bindiya Goswami in the lead roles. The film also starred, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Mac Mohan, and Johnny Walker in the supporting roles. There are many unknown facts about the film, Shaan that you might be unaware of. Read on to know about the trivia of the film, Shaan.

Shaan: Here are some unknown facts about the film

The star cast

The ensemble star cast that was launched earlier for the film Shaan was Sunil Dutt, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini, and Praveen Babi. Later, as per reports, Dharmendra left the film along with Hema Malini due to some disputes with Ramesh Sippy. And in their replacement, Shashi Kapoor and Bindya Goswami were featured. Also, for the role of Shakaal, which was the villain's role, Sanjeev Kumar was signed, but he opted out due to his first heart attack. And eventually, Kulbhushan was taken in replacement of Sanjeev Kapoor. And the last one was, Vinod Khanna who left the film, it was because he wanted to join Rajneesh and he also decided to leave Bollywood, his role was replaced by Shatrughan Sinha.

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The villain role, Shakaal

As Shaan was the second film of director Ramesh Sippy after Sholay (1975) in which the antagonist had a much bigger part just as the lead actors. As per reports, Shakaal's island which had sharks and crocodiles was, Steep Holm, an English Island setting in the Bristol Channel. So, in short, Ramesh Sippy gave two iconic villains to Hindi films, i.e Kulbushan Kharbhanda as Shakaal, and earlier Gabbar Singh in Sholay. A bald look of Shakaal in the film had gained a lot of popularity and many young stars would choose for that look.

The Parveen Babi controversy

Reports say that Parveen Babi suffered her first nervous breakdown on the sets of the film Shaan. She got an anxiety attack when she completed shooting of the song Pyar Karnewale. Just after the shooting of that song, there was a scene in the film where Parveen Babi is in the car, she stops the car, then Amitabh Bachchan gets in the car. The scene was later shot when Parveen Babi returned from the U.S. and she recommenced work by shooting this scene.

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Choosing a heroine opposite Shashi Kapoor

To choose a top female lead opposite Shashi Kapoor, was a big task for Ramesh Sippy. Reportedly, the director wanted a top female lead opposite Shashi Kapoor in the film after Hema Malini left the film, but it was difficult for him to find one. The mammoth set was created, and reportedly, neither Rekha nor Reena Roy nor Zeenat Aman could give Ramesh Sippy the required dates, as all these stars were busy with 6-7 films at that time. Moushumi Chatterjee was pregnant with her second child and Neetu Singh was about to get married. And eventually, Ramesh Sippy had no choice left, and hence had to sign a Bindiya Goswami, a newcomer, opposite Shashi Kapoor. Despite the criticism that Bindiya was too young to star opposite Shashi Kapoor, she landed in the role.

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