Abhishek Bachchan reveals filmmakers showed no interest in debuting him

Abhishek Bachchan recently opened up about the challenges he faced while trying to secure his first film in the early 2000s. During the Hindi Actors Roundtable on Galatta Plus, Abhishek disclosed that even though film magazines were announcing the upcoming debut of Amitabh Bachchan's son, he encountered difficulties as no filmmaker showed interest in casting him.

"There was a lot of chatter, excitement about me joining (the film industry). Not because of me, but because of the kid I was. But contrary to that, people were not interested in working with me. I think I met all the directors I could have met, and they all very respectfully declined saying, 'We don't want the responsibility of watching you,'" Abhishek said during the roundtable discussion.

Later, Abhishek recounted the story of how he secured his debut film. He initiated the development of a period film initially named "Samjhauta Express" alongside a friend and ad filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. Despite facing challenges in finding an actor for Mehra's directorial debut, Abhishek stepped in. He even grew a mustache and beard for the role. However, when they presented the project to Amitabh Bachchan, hoping for him to produce it under his banner ABCL, Amitabh dismissed the script, labeling it as "bakwas" (rubbish in English).

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To uplift his son's spirits, Amitabh took Abhishek to the Filmfare Awards. It was during this event that filmmaker JP Dutta noticed him. Having won the Best Film award that night for the highly successful "Border," JP Dutta approached Abhishek a few days later with a proposal for his next project. The film was centered around a Mughal descendant, the son of Bahadur Shah Zafar. Although that particular film did not come to fruition, JP Dutta eventually cast Abhishek in the 2000 cross-border romance "Refugee", alongside fellow newbie Kareena Kapoor.

Abhishek further remembered that upon receiving the feedback from his father that the script of "Samjhauta Express" was deemed "bakwas," Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, in response, returned home, consumed a bottle of alcohol, and, as an act of retribution, hastily wrote the script for "Aks". This script eventually became Rakeysh's directorial debut, featuring Amitabh Bachchan in a starring role.