Did you know Sanjeev Kumar did Amitabh-Rekha starrer 'Silsila' for Jaya Bachchan? Details Inside

Silsila (1981) is the cult movie of Bollywood director by ace director Yash Chopra. Not only because of its's amazing story, but the fact that Yashji chose Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha to play a part in an iconic love triangle movie also made this film a hit.

A lot has been set and written about the equations of lead actors Amitabh, Rekha and Jaya Bachchan. How this movie portrayed a real-life scenario between the Bachchans and Rekha helped Yash Chopra's classic cult to become a hit. While this love triangle was the talk of the town when the movie was released, nobody can deny the amazing performance given by Sanjeev Kumar.

But did you know that initially, Sanjeev has declined Yashji's offer to do Silsila?

After doing Sholay with Amitabh Bachchan, when Yash Chopra offered Silsila to Sanjeev Kumar, he denied as he didn't want to play second lead to Big B in another movie. Yash Ji tried to convince him but Kumar was in a no mood to agree.

Jaya Bachchan made Sanjeev Kumar do Silsila

After denying, again and again, Sajeev finally agreed to sit through the narration of the script after being persuaded by Yash Chopra. As per the reports by the Times of India, while narrating the script of Silsila when they reached the scene where Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh, Rekha and Jaya are sitting in a restaurant and Amitabh hits the dance floor with Rekha and not Jaya, Sanjeev asked Yash to stop.

This scene made Sajeev Kumar realise that he has to be there for Jaya Bachchan to support her and he immediately called up his manager and set the dates. Sanjeev Kumar has great respect for Jaya Bachchan and he always considered her as a 'sister'.

Reportedly, he had always enjoyed working with Jaya in Silsila as he felt that she helped in enhancing his acting ability and matched his performance. Before Silsila, Jaya and Sanjeev worked together in Anamika, Koshish and Nauker.

Parveen Babi was first choice for Rekha's role

After enthralling the audience with their brooding romance, Amitabh and Rekha were never seen together in any other movie. Interestingly, Yash Ji wanted to cast Parveen Babi but after discussion with Amitabh Bachchan, he went on with the rumoured nemesis Rekha and Jaya Bachchan opposite Big B.

Once in an interview, Yash Chopra talked about the same and disclosed, "The film had inherent tensions because of the casting coup. If I was confident of the project, it was because all the three artistes had individually assured me that there would be no problems at their end. And they kept their word."