Flashback Friday:When Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan Clashed on the big Stage

In the year 2015, superstar Salman Khan said that Shah Rukh Khan’s film Raees may clash with his film Sultan next Eid but, SRK has nothing to worry about as he has a hundred per cent record against Salman. Well Salman quoted this on the basis of two of his films (Jaan-E-Mann & ‘Saawariya’ clashing with ‘Don and Om Shanti Om) which fared badly over the box-office. Fans of both these superstars were totally excited over the clash of Raees and Sultan, but as per the latest news Raees has been postponed and the clash has been avoided. Many trade experts feel that Eid has been the Salman’s forte. As such, the clash had to be avoided. Few of them also feel that the clash of SRK’s Dilwale (2015) with Ranveer Singh’s Bajirao Mastani (2015) might be the key point over the postponement of Raees, as the latter won hands down. All this is not new for Shahrukh Khan and his fans as, the Badshah Khan’s films have clashed with many other actors’ films.

In most of these clashes his movies emerged out as the winner but, then there were times when his films faced tough competition too, (‘KuchKuchHotaHai’ v/s ‘Bade MiyanChoteMiyan’, ‘Mohabbatein’ v/s ‘Mission Kashmir’, ‘Veer Zara’ v/s ‘Aitraaz’, ‘Jab TakHaiJaan’ v/s ‘Son of Sardar’, etc). Few of trade experts feel that media and SRK’s fans love such clashes which have been happening right from his first released film Deewana(1992) followed by Chamatkar (1992) days where these movies smashed the films released around that time (Jagruti & Honeymoon). All these clashes are related to Shahrukh Khan’s movies but, then there was one such big clash which happened with his stage show and that too opposite the megastar, Amitabh Bachchan.

In the year 1994, megastar Amitabh Bachchan had announced his temporary retirement after the release of Khuda Gawah (1992) and Shah Rukh Khan was riding high with the massive success of his films like Deewana’(1992), Baazigar (1993) and Darr (1993). The media was supporting every success of SRK and had termed him the big superstar of the future. Articles were written comparing SRK’s career with other Khans and even Amitabh Bachchan. The summer of 1994 witnessed many stars having their stage shows in foreign countries. Amitabh Bachchan and his team including music directors Kalyanji-Anandji were known for their fantastic stage shows and concerts all over the globe. Following their routine, Amitabh Bachchan’s next big show was to be held in New York. The whole event was grand and had many top actors from Hindi film industry taking part in it. The ticket rates were high and there was tremendous curiosity surrounding this show.

At that moment a fresh announcement came about Shah Rukh Khan’s stage show happening on the same day in the same city. This created a dilemma for the fans and as well as the Asians residing in that part of the country. Both the shows looked great and were promoted with hit songs of Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan all over the local radio stations and the communitymagazines. While Amitabh Bachchan had his all-time great hit songs including the latest one Jumma Chumma from Hum (1991) to cash in. Shah Rukh was also in the race with his latest chart toppers like Yeh Kaali Kaali Aakhen from Baazigar (1993), Jadu Teri Nazar from Darr (1993), Badi Mushkil Hai from Anjaam and few more. In the initial stage everyone thought that it was a suicidal attempt for Shahrukh, but as time passed by, the response to his show was equally good. This positive response added fuel to this clash as the media started drawing comparisons between the retired superstar and the emerging one. Finally, the D-day came and both shows took place on the same day in the same city. No one knew which show performed better over the other. The flames of this clash had reached India and the media out here was equally excited to know which show emerged as the winner.

Shah Rukh Khan’s show was organized by Morani brothers and one of their spoke person gave a statement that, their show in New York created a history by witnessing a record breaking number of people attending the show. The entire crowd was roaring with ‘Shah Rukh..Shah Rukh’ chants. The venue was overcrowded and was a super hit show. This statement was clear enough to state that Shahrukh’s show overpowered Amitabh Bachchan’s show but, before one could reach to any conclusion the final statement came from Ramesh Shah, son of Anandji(Amitabh Bachchan’s show was organized by music director Kalyanji-Anandji and was managed by Ramesh Shah). Ramesh replied back over the Morani’sclaim that despite of the Morani group trying to influence the radio media in New York and giving negative statements over Amitabh Bachchan’s show, it did not hamper the impact of Amitabh Bachchan. He stated that more than one fourth of the tickets for Shahrukh Khan’s show, were distributed for free over the radio promotions. He also agreed over the fact that Shahrukh Khan’s show did witness huge crowd but it was never the largest nor the highest to the crowd witnessed at Amitabh Bachchan’s show. Amitabh Bachchan’s show was in a larger venue than Shahrukh’s show and the ticket were priced almost double of the latter’s show. Despite of the high rates, their show was housefull and there was a huge crowd outside their venue of all those people who did not get tickets for the Amitabh Bachchan’s show. He ended his statement by saying that he had heard from his sources that many of the investors of Shahrukh Khan’s show failed to recover their basic cost and if Morani’s wanted, he could produce more details over this to the Indian media.

Kalyanji-Anandji at that time were big names in the film industry and were known for their international shows and concerts. This statement from their camp was enough for the media to accept it as the final declaration and also the fact that there were no further statements from the Morani’s group. Both, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan maintained their silence as they knew it was the media and the organizers who wanted to cash-in over this clash.

Fun Facts –

Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan clashed back again in the year 1998 with ‘KuchKuchHotaHai’ and ‘Bade MiyanChote Miya’. Time had changed and it was Shahrukh starrer which won by a huge margin over the box-office. ‘Bade MiyanChote Miya’ though ended up at number two slot from the films released in that year.

Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan could have been seen inRakeshRoshan’s ‘Kind Uncle’ (1993), as the director had planned the film keeping Amitabh Bachchan in mind. He also got the songs recorded by SudeshBhosle who was known as the voice of Amitabh Bachchan in that era. Sadly, things did not work out and Jackie replaced Amitabh Bachchan.

Amitabh Bachchan did a concert in London in the year 1990 at the Wembley Stadium. This was the first one of its kind of show where an Indian show was organized on the international level matching up to their standards. This massive show was filmed and was released in cinema halls next year as ‘JummaChumma in London’ (1991). The three hour footage featured performances of many actors like Sridevi, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Neelam, AnupamKher along with Amitabh Bachchan. ‘JummaChumma in London’ created history as never before any stage show or a concert managed to get such big all over India theatrical release.