Why Amitabh Bachchan said NO to Zanjeer remake

Contrary to recent reports, Amitabh Bachchan -- who played the iconic cop Vijay in Prakash Mehra’s 1973 blockbuster Zanjeer -- will not be making a guest appearance in Apoorva Lakhia's remake starring Ram Charan Teja and Priyanka Chopra.

Turns out, efforts to get the Big B to be part of the film have failed even though the team was very keen on it.

His beard is to be blamed for this, we hear.

A source cose to the project says, “Initially, Mr Bachchan’s other commitments prevented him from putting in a token appearance as a senior cop in the Zanjeer remake but just when it seemed that he would somehow manage to squeeze in the role in his schedule, his beard posed a problem.”

Bachchan has grown his beard longer than normal for his role of a social activist-politician in Prakash Jha’s Satyagraha and that would notsuit a senior cop character.

So the actor has said a final no to the cameo.

When contacted, Apoorva Lakhia said, “Although it would be an honour for any filmmaker to have India’s most iconic actor in his film,  Amitji won’t be playing a role in Zanjeer. That would put more pressure on Ram Charan Teja, who plays the role Amitji had played in the original film.”

Photograph: Apoorva Lakhia with Priynaka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt and Ram Charan Teja on the sets of Zanjeer