This film was rejected by Dev Anand-Jeetendra, another superstar did it, became huge blockbuster, earned Rs 2.5 crores in budget of Rs 70 lakhs, movie is…, lead actors were…

India.com

20-07-2025

Back in the late '70s, a filmmaker trapped in heavy debt decided to roll the dice on a small-budget movie. Released in 1978, the film wasn't expected to do wonders; it was just a last attempt to clear dues. But destiny had different plans. With a gripping story, memorable characters, and unexpected public love, the film turned into a surprise box office success. Which film is this?
Here we are talking about the 1978 action thriller 'Don', helmed by late Chandra Barot, who has passed away at the age of 86. He was ill for a long time. Don is counted among iconic Bollywood films, which not only gave Big B the image of an angry young man. But also made the producer rich. The budget of the film was around Rs 70 lakh, which included production and marketing costs.
It was a medium budget film for that time, because in the 1970s, big budget films were usually less than Rs 1 crore. It was produced by Nariman Irani. Salim-Javed's script and Amitabh Bachchan's powerful double role made this film special for the cinema lovers. However, producer Nariman Irani, who was a cameraman, had his first film, Zindagi Zindagi, with Sunil Dutt flop badly, after which he had a huge debt of about 12 lakh rupees. To get out of this problem, Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Chandra Barot and Manoj Kumar advised him to make another film, which was Don. When Dev Anand and Jeetendra rejected Don
However, getting the script was not easy, as writers Salim-Javed were reluctant to sell the script for a long time. But director Chandra Barot and producer Nariman Irani finally bought it. However, it was rejected by Dev Anand, Prakash Mehra and Jeetendra before Amitabh Bachchan said yes. Initially, the script did not even have a name. While there was a script related to a character called Don. When Nariman Irani approached Salim, he said, 'We have a breakfast script lying around which no one is taking.' And Nariman said okay. And this is how the film Don was made. How Was The box office reception of Don?
Talking about the box office collection, it earned a net collection of Rs 2.5 crores and a gross collection of Rs 3.2 crores in India. The worldwide gross was around Rs 3.5 crores because at that time, the release of Hindi films in the foreign market was limited. The situation was such that Don turned out to be one of the highest-grossing films of 1978 and was declared a blockbuster.