15 Fun Facts About Laawaris - Amitabh's Cult Classic

Do you beleive in old is gold in case of bollywood movies? Are you an old movies fan? Well, if you are then you must have not missed the movie Lawaris of Amitabh Bachchan. It is a superb movie. It is an action drama with the amazing performance of Amitji. It is a fun movie. Let me share some facts about the movie with you to make it more interesting for you. 

■ Laawaris was produced, directed and co-written by Prakash Mehra, whose previous films include 1973 classic Zanjeer, which had turned Amitabh Bachchan into a mega-star. Other successful films they delivered together include Hera Pheri (1976), Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978), Namak Halaal (1982) and Sharaabi (1984).

■ The premise of Laawaris was based on the strained relationship Prakash Mehra had with his own father. He would later explore a similar theme with Sharaabi.

■ Prakash Mehra had used the Laawaris concept of kids separating in childhood and reuniting as adults in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar.

■ Parveen Babi was originally signed for the film and shot a schedule for it but then got dropped due to illness and was replaced by Zeenat Aman.

■ Young actor Mayur Verma played the child version of Amitabh Bachchan’s character in Laawaris and had done the same in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar.

■ Legend has it that Amitabh Bachchan would sing Mere Angne Mein on the sets of Reshma Aur Shera as it was a folk song from his home state of Uttar Pradesh. Prakash Mehra first heard the actor sing it at a Holi event when he was making Muqaddar Ka Sikandar with him and decided to include it in the next film that they would do together, which then ended up being Laawaris.

■ A young Alka Yagnik got her first major recognition for the star-making Laawaris song Mere Angne Mein with a Filmfare award nomination. She would go onto get a record-breaking number of Filmfare awards and nominations after that first acknowledgement.

■ The film’s standout number Mere Angne Mein had previously briefly appeared in the films Bombay Talkie (1970) and Maze Le Lo (1975).

■ The hugely popular version of Mere Angne Mein sung by Amitabh Bachchan was a last-minute addition to the film and proved to be a huge highlight in the movie, with him performing it on-screen in drag. He would later sing the same song on his massively popular Bally Sagoo produced album Aby Baby.

■ Decades later Amitabh Bachchan revealed that his wife Jaya Bachchan hated the Mere Angne Mein number he performed in drag and even walked out of the theatre.

■ Legendary filmmaker V Shantaram despised the Mere Angne Mein song picturised on Bachchan and was fierce in his criticism of it in the press.

■ Mere Angne Mein was one of five hit Bollywood songs the Big B performed himself in 1981. The others were Chal Mere Bhai from Naseeb and Silsila tracks Yeh Kahan Aagaye Hum, Rang Barse and Neela Aasman.

■ The film’s Apni To Jaise Taise is heavily inspired by classic Boney M song No More Chain Gang. It also drew inspiration from the track Love In C Minor by Cerrone.

■ Apni To Jaise Taise would be remixed in subsequent decades multiple times and a cover version of it appeared in the film Housefull (2010) as Aapka Kya Hoga (Dhanno).

■ A separate album was released with the film’s massively popular dialogues, which were written by legendary actor Kader Khan. It was titled Dialogue From Laawaris.