Made in a reported budget of Rs 45 crores, this movie grossed only Rs 22 crores and became a box office disaster.
Ram Charan is one of the biggest superstars of Telugu cinema. After S.S Rajamouli’s RRR (2022) he became a pan-India star. In his 17 years of career, Chiranjeevi’s son has been a part of several blockbusters, including Magadheera, Racha, Naayak, Yevadu, Dhruva, and Rangasthalam. Before RRR, Ram Charan did try his luck in Bollywood and debuted in Hindi cinema. Even though his debut Hindi film was the remake of a classic blockbuster, it tanked so badly, that Ram returned to Telugu films, and never did any other Bollywood film.
Ram Charan’s Bollywood debut film was…
Zanjeer, the 2013-released, Apoorva Lakhia directorial was the official remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s breakthrough film, Zanjeer (1973). In this crime thriller, Ram plays the role of no-nonsense cop Vijay, Priyanka Chopra plays Mala, and Prakash Raj as the main antogonist Rudra Pratap Teja (played by Ajit in the original). Sanjay Dutt reprised Pran’s iconic character Sher Khan, and Mahie Gill stepped into Bindu’s iconic role of Mona Darling. Reportedly, director Apoorva Lakhia re-bought the Zanjeer script by paying Rs 6 crores. Interestingly, Ram’s father, Chiranjeevi also made his Bollywood debut with Pratibandh, which was loosely based on Zanjeer.
Actors who rejected Zanjeer
The movie pre-production of Zanjeer was started in 2012, and reportedly, Sonu Sood and Arjun Rampal were first considered for Sher Khan. However, Arjun had date issues, and Sonu got injured during the CCL match (Celebrity Cricket League), thus Sanjay Dutt was finalised as Sher Khan, and Srihari played the same role in the Telugu version (Thoofan). For Bindu’s Mona Darling, reportedly Jacqueline Fernandez, Mallika Sherawat and Malaika Arora were considered, but they all rejected the offer, and finally, Mahie Gill was finalised for the same.
Box office performance of Zanjeer
Zanjeer was released in cinemas on September 6, 2013, with overwhelmingly negative reviews. The movie was slammed by critics, who called it a bad remake of a classic. Made in the reported budget of 45 crores, the movie grossed only Rs 22.54 crores worldwide and became a box office disaster. After the debacle of Zanjeer, Ram was not seen in any other Bollywood film. However, he has dubbed the RRR Hindi version, and was seen making a cameo in Salman Khan’s Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan.
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