Amitabh Bachchan recalls how film sets were ‘unsafe’ when he started out: ‘There was always fear of…’

Amitabh Bachchan started out in the early 70s and had a series of flops before he made it big in the film industry. The actor became a superstar with Salim-Javed' Zanjeer and is now known as one of the greatest actors in Indian cinema. He continues to deliver hits and blockbusters. The actor recently recalled how film sets were unsafe during the early times. 

During a conversation at The Indian Express event, Amitabh spoke about the changes that he has observed in the film industry in the last few decades. Talking about moving on from film to digital, and the introduction of VFX and AI, the superstar said he really appreciates the “change in the nature of workers” on set.

He said, "During my time, these workers worked assiduously. Sometimes bare feet, just about wearing very soiled pyjama kurtas and coming to work and doing all kinds of very dangerous work like climbing up the tarafas on their own. There’s always the fear of them falling and there were a few incidents where we had very serious injuries. That is what I noticed then. And I notice the workers today and I see all of them in very modern attire. Jeans and t-shirts and wearing sneakers and all of them wearing these walkie-talkie sets so they can communicate."

Amitabh Bachchan recently delivered the highest-grossing Bollywood movie of 2024. The actor was praised for his performance in Kalki 2898 AD which also starred Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, and Kamal Haasan in key roles. The film collected Rs 1000 crore at the box office and broke several records. Amitabh Bachchan played the role of Ashwatthama in the movie and his action avatar was loved by the fans. He has now reunited with Rajinikanth in Vettaiyan, however, despite their star power, the film opened to mixed response from the audience which also impacted its box office run. 

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