Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor reunite on big screen for 102 Not Out after over two decades.
One of the most successful Bollywood jodis of yesteryears – Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor – are back; although they gave their best mostly for Manmohan Desai’s films (usually as brothers), their latest venture 102 Not Out pits them against each other as father and son. Before we discuss their latest collaboration, let’s take a look at some of the films in which they played major roles opposite each other (thus excluding Kabhi Kabhie) between 1977 and 2018.
Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)
Director: Manmohan Desai
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh, Shabana Azmi, Parveen Babi, Nirupa Roy, Pran.
One of the most watched Hindi films of all times, Amar Akbar Anthony can easily be termed as the foremost multi-starrer of recent times. Here Big B and Chintu – as they are affectionately known as – play Akbar and Anthony, respectively, who are revealed at the climax as brothers separated in childhood with Vinod Khanna playing the third sibling, Amar. The two actors were at their best in the roles of a bootlegger and a qawwal in this film boasting of inter-religious harmony; the film had a stellar script from Kader Khan and its songs and dialogues are still popular even after 40 years.
Naseeb (1981)
Director: Manmohan Desai
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Rishi Kapoor, Hema Malini, Reena Roy, Kim, Pran
Four years after Amar Akbar Anthony, Manmohan Desai brought Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor back together as brothers with Shatrughan Sinha playing the third lead. In this star-studded tale of revenge, both the actors get to perform on ‘Chal Mere Bhai’ song where they sing alongside Mohammad Rafi who died before the film’s release. Then there was the classic ‘Rang Jama Kay’ where all three leading pairs dance their hearts out with Big B playing a bull-fighter and Rishi Kapoor imitating Charlie Chaplin. Kader Khan wrote the script while Laxmikant Pyarelal composed all the hit songs including the forever favourite ‘Jon Jani Janardhan’ and ‘Mere Naseeb Main’.
Coolie (1983)
Director: Manmohan Desai
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Rati Agnihotri, Waheeda Rehman, Kader Khan
Another lost and found tale, another Amitabh and Rishi starrer, Coolie is known primarily for the injury Amitabh Bachchan sustained on the sets while doing an action sequence. This too was a Manmohan Desai film in which they played brothers of sorts who helped each other in their hour of need; incidentally, it was Rishi Kapoor, the first to arrive at the scene after the corner of a table struck Amitabh Bachchan and he was also reportedly the person who nursed his old friend before he was taken to the hospital.
Ajooba (1991)
Director: Shashi Kapoor
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Sonam, Shammi Kapoor, Saeed Jaffery, Amrish Puri
Considered to be the most expensive Bollywood film when it was released in 1991, Ajooba united 3 Kapoors (director Shashi Kapoor and actors Shammi Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor) with Amitabh Bachchan who played a Zorro-like hero known as Ajooba. The film that was a box office disaster had Amrish Puri as the antagonist whose favorite line was ‘Shaitaan Zindabad’ while a dolphin played Amitabh’s mother until he realized the absurdity of the relationship. There were fight sequences featuring magic carpets, flying horses and a scary demon that had to be stopped by the good guys at the climax. It was the last film in which Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor worked opposite each other before their latest project 102 Not Out.
102 Not Out (2018)
Director: Umesh Shukla
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Jimit Trivedi
For 27 years, Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor didn’t act opposite each other despite being good friends and then came the stellar script of 102 Not Out that reunited them in a heartbeat. Big B plays the father of his long-time collaborator Rishi and together they create the magic that must be new to cine-goers in today’s time but is something dreams are made of. Both the actors complement each other in every scene as they take off from where they left in Ajooba. In their last film, Rishi was the immature one but the tables have turned here as Big B plays the young-at-heart father to the as-old-as-dead son who has lost the will to live and could affect his father’s bid to break the world record of being the oldest person alive. There are no songs featuring the two actors but when you have a brilliant script and a master director at work, songs can be a distraction.
–Omair Alavi is a freelance broadcast journalist and can be contacted at omair78@gmail.com
