This film was made to beat Sholay, got delayed for 3 years, producer was kidnapped, still became blockbuster, earned Rs..., lead actors were...
There are few films in Bollywood that only have a powerful and dramatic story on-screen, but behind-the-scenes as well as. One such film was Shakti , released in 1980. Starring two cinematic titans Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan, director Ramesh Sippy reunited with legendary screen writing duo Salim-Javed for this project. But while, the film became a box office success, its production underwent shocking real-life incident that left the film industry shaken.
On September 24, 1982, the producer of the film Mushir Alam was kidnapped in broad daylight by the Pathan Mafia. That morning, Mushir was stopped by three ambassador cars. Three men stepped out with weapons, grabbed Mushir and pushed him into the car. Despite being blindfolded, Mushir didn't panic. He kept taking mental notes- a Sholay poster on the wall, wooden stairs that he was instructed to climb on, and children reading the Quran in chorus. These details would later help the police to investigate the case.
Kidnappers than took off Mushir's blindfold, and told him to pay Rs 20 lakh as ransom. He somehow managed to arrange Rs 3 lakh through a contact. Upon receiving the amount, he was released by the kidnappers at a city crossroads.
Though Mushir Khan was released, actor Dilip Kumar insisted a full investigation, and even visited the the Police Commissioner's office on the day of the kidnapping incident. Mushir narrated the whole incident, and answered all the critical questions asked by officer Bagwan.
Mushir described the whole property where kidnappers took him. Upon searching the area, Bagwan found out the location, which came out to be linked to the infamous Amirzada-Alamzeb gang, known rivals of Dawood Ibrahim.
'Once the whole picture was taken into consideration, we realized that all attempts to kill Dawood had taken a heavy toll on the financial resources of the gang. They desperately needed funds, which is why they had forced Ahmed Sayyad Khan to identify rich targets in the film industry, who in turn led them to Mushir,' Police inspector Bagwan revealed.
Despite the whole chaos, Shakti was released on October 1, 1982. It became the eight highest-grossing film of the year, with its lifetime collection of Rs 4 crore. Apart from Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan, the film featured a stellar cast including Rakhi Gulzar, Smita Patil, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, and Amrish Puri.
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