Mukesh Khanna On Failure Due To ‘Amitabh Bachchan Impersonator’ Tag: ‘Amit Ji Kaun Hain Jo Career Ko Rok Sakte?’

When Mukesh Khanna started his acting career, he was called Amitabh Bachchan’s impersonator due to the similarities in their mannerisms. This label was given to Mukesh Khanna right from his debut in the 1981 film Roohi, angering the actor who was trying to create a name for himself.

Speaking to Bollywood Thikana, Mukesh Khanna said: “The media once called Mithun Chakraborty ‘Gareebo ka Amitabh Bachchan’. I don’t know how you reacted, but if I had been told that, I would have said, ‘Shut up.’ They were saying, ‘You look like Amit ji, you are copying him.’ A number of my films failed, so people said that. Only success speaks loudest here. When Mahabharat happened, no one gave me the Amitabh Bachchan tag, which has happened very often throughout my film career.”

He said: “People will say, ‘You didn’t succeed because you looked like him, and now that Amitabh Bachchan himself has said that you copied him, your career is over.'” Mukesh recalled Amitabh Bachchan’s comments and said, “He said: yes but that’s why I will fail? Do you just have a career? (Amit ji can’t stop my career). A friend of mine had told me how he watched a movie with Amit ji. It was a movie theater and it was on the hood. When my ad came, he saw it and said, ‘Saala copy karta hai.’ Years later, some YouTubers took this quote and wrote that Amit ji’s one line ruined my career.”

“Every actor is inspired by the others; Manoj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar are inspired by Dilip Kumar, Shah Rukh is also greatly inspired by Dilip saab. Even Amitabh Bachchan’s early roles were inspiring and why not, because you benefit from what you see. There is nothing wrong with this, but if you imitate it in your films, you will be destroyed. “That’s what I didn’t do,” he added.

Mukesh Khanna eventually managed to achieve great success and ruled Indian television as the superhero Shaktimaan for several years.