Last year, veteran writer duo Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan (Salim-Javed) revealed that Zanjeer (1973) was originally offered to Dharmendra before Amitabh Bachchan stepped into the iconic role of Vijay Khanna. Now, actor Bobby Deol has shed light on why his father chose to walk away from the film that ultimately launched Bachchan’s stardom.

In a recent interview with Instant Bollywood, Bobby shared, “My father did Satyakam (1969) for my aunt’s husband. They were going through a financial crisis, and my dad gave them Rs. 25 lakh.”

He went on to explain how a family situation influenced Dharmendra’s decision to turn down Zanjeer: “When Zanjeer was offered, dad wanted to do it. However, humari ek cousin sister thi, unki shayad koi problem hogyi thi (director) Prakash Mehra ji se. She came to the house one day and said, ‘Aapko meri kasam, agar apne yeh film ki, toh aap meri dead body dekhoge’.”

Back in 2022, Javed briefly addressed Dharmendra’s refusal, saying, “The script was written for Dharmendra ji, but for some reason, he refused to work on it.”

Later, Dharmendra took to X with a poetic response: “Javed… dikhave ki iss duniya mein haqeeqaten dabi rah jaati hain… Dilon ko gudgudana khoob aata hai… kaash sar chad ke bolne ka jaadu bhi seekh liya hota.”