This dialogue from Shahenshah turned out to be Amitabh Bachchan’s trademark dialogue for all times to come. As a die-hard Amitabh fan I will always remember this film for nostalgic reasons.
It was 12th February 1988 that Shahenshah released and I along with my school friends who were desperately waiting for Shahenshah to release, caught the 8.00 am bus to the theater where we had a chance to get tickets. Shahenshah was releasing after Aakhree Raasta which was released on the 6th June 1986, and the crowd that we saw at the theaters was ten times more than we had expected. We tried all means to get the first day morning show tickets but it was as difficult as conquering Mount Everest without oxygen.
One of my friends’ friend had promised to get us morning show tickets but he ditched us at the very last minute. It’s been nearly 20 years since then but I am still waiting to meet him to take revenge. We all had saved enough money to buy tickets in black but the police vigil was so tight that the rates were sky high (each ticket was sold at Rs.150 onwards) as some political parties had come to stall the film at some theaters. Almost 90 % of the theaters were showing Shahenshah in the city and everywhere we were greeted with a ‘FULL HOUSE’ board- that was the craze of Shahenshah. We even witnessed a stampede but people were just CRAZY to get into the theaters to become proud claimants of seeing Shahenshah first day morning show; a great achievement in those days.
Shahenshah was a typical Amitabh masala film where he plays Shahenshah the savior of the poor and the corrupt policeman with Meenakshi Seshadri playing his love interest. Amrish Puri, Prem Chopra, Pran, Kader Khan and Rohini Hattangadi formed the rest of the cast.
Shahenshah was directed by Tinnu Anand, produced by Tinnu Anand, Naresh Malhotra and Bittu Anand, written by Santosh Saroj and Inder Raj Anand and music by Amar-Utpal. It had one of the last songs sung by the late Kishore Kumar that became popular- Andheri Raaton Mein…
Shahenshah had nothing new to offer to the audience as it wasn’t such a big hit that a big b film normally is but it will surely go down in history as one of the biggest money spinners of all times.
Shahenshah whenever shown on TV channels still gets in high TRP’s, a film that marked Bachchan’s comeback after a two year hiatus and his supremacy at the box-office.