Joginder Tuteja (DNA; November 17, 2016)

With Sarkar 3, Ram Gopal Varma has become the only living director to make eight films with Amitabh Bachchan, joining the ranks of the late Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, men who were the early pillars supporting Amitabh Bachchan’s film career.

Then
“Hrishikesh Mukherjee started it all with the likes of Anand and Abhimaan. Prakash Mehra made Big B take a different road with Zanjeer and followed it up with Hera Pheri. On the other hand, Manmohan Desai explored the comic actor in Amitabh with Amar Akbar Anthony and then took a dramatic route with Parvarish. With these three filmmakers, there was no looking back for Amitabh Bachchan and in years to come, he did eight films each with the trio,” says a film historian. This is not all; Big B also made a few cameo appearances for Hrishikesh and then featured in a few other productions of Manmohan where the latter was not the director.

Now
“Now with Ramu, he is repeating the feat. The association that started with Sarkar (2005) is now leading to Big B’s eighth film, with the maverick filmmaker, Sarkar 3,” a source adds, “Though they are yet to deliver a huge grosser or commercial blockbuster together, there is something about Ramu that keeps bringing back Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of his films. They collaborated last on Department (2012). Sarkar 3 comes after a gap of half a decade.” Incidentally, Big B has made only five films with Yash Chopra (as a director), another man who has been instrumental in his career, right from the days of Deewar to Silsila.

Going forward
Our historian adds, “On one end, Big B is working with the new breed of filmmakers like Shoojit Sircar (Shoebite, Piku, Pink) and R Balki (Cheeni Kum, Paa, Shamitabh). On the other hand, when it comes to further experimenting across varied genres, there is Ram Gopal Varma with whom he doesn’t shy away from associating with time and again.”