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Amitabh Bachchan’s journey to stardom is a tale of consistent excellence and immense contribution to the cinema. From his iconic roles in Don and Sholay to Kalki 2898 AD, the actor has delivered numerous hits and received countless awards over the course of his career. However, there’s one film where, despite sharing the screen with two equally talented actors, Amitabh Bachchan walked away with the prestigious Best Actor award, leaving his co-stars empty-handed. That film was Amar Akbar Anthony, a 1977 classic.
Directed by Manmohan Desai and written by Kader Khan, Amar Akbar Anthony was a film ahead of its time, blending comedy, drama and action seamlessly. The movie had an ensemble cast, with Amitabh Bachchan playing the role of Anthony Gonsalves, the middle brother. Alongside him, Vinod Khanna played the Hindu brother Amar Khanna, the eldest brother and Rishi Kapoor portrayed Akbar Ilahabadi, the youngest brother. The film also featured stellar performances by Neetu Singh, Parveen Babi, Shabana Azmi, Nirupa Roy, Pran, and Jeevan.
While the film’s success was a collective effort, Amitabh Bachchan’s performance stood out, earning him the Best Actor award at the 25th Filmfare Awards. His portrayal of Anthony Gonsalves brought both, humour and depth, to his character. Meanwhile, both Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor, despite their stellar performances, did not receive any awards for their roles.
Rishi Kapoor, in his book, Khullam Khulla, mentioned how directors and writers unfailingly reserved their strongest, pivotal roles for Amitabh Bachchan. He wrote, “I must confess there is still a lingering issue I have with Amitabh Bachchan. A big disadvantage of working in an all-star movie in those days was that everybody only wanted to make action films, which automatically meant that the star who could carry off action with the most flair would get the meatiest part. That’s how, with the exception of Kabhi Kabhie, which was a romantic film, none of the multi-starrers I featured in had an author-backed role for me. Directors and writers unfailingly reserved their strongest, pivotal roles for Amitabh Bachchan. And it wasn’t just me. Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna faced it too.”
Amar Akbar Anthony was a massive commercial success, grossing Rs 155 million at the Indian box office in 1977, making it the highest-grossing Bollywood film of that year. In today’s terms, that amount is almost equivalent to Rs 430 crore. The film’s soundtrack, composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal with lyrics by Anand Bakshi, became a huge hit, with songs that are still remembered. The film’s popularity led to several remakes in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and even an unofficial remake in Pakistan.
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