Anecdotes

Shakti was launched in 1977 and the mahurat showed Amitabh come on a helicopter, get down and talk to Dilip Kumar. This sequence was not in the film. Many thought this film would never be made. The shooting started in 1980, about 3 years later after it was launched because director Ramesh Sippy wanted to complete Shaan first. By then Neetu Singh who had initially been considered for the heroine's role had retired. Smita Patil was signed for the role. This was her first big commercial break.

Ramesh Sippy stated It didn't work every time! The real big one was "Shakti". At that time Amitabh Bachchan, who was on top, and Mr. Dilip Kumar, who was the best till then, were keen and interested in doing something different and the timing was absolutely right. Both heard the script and both totally okayed it without asking any questions. Nothing changed during the shoot. If somebody suggests it, he is completely false. As a matter of fact I was the only one who had a little inkling that the film is a little too grim because by the time I was shooting "Shakti", Bachchan had become a one-man variety entertainment. I realised I had a straitjacketed role for him and there was not much room to bring in all his other qualities. I did discuss with Javed (Akhtar) and Bachchan that should we open up the film a little bit. Because of his "Coolie" injury there was a gap and during this period we discussed it. But we realised that the purity of the film will be lost . The box office was less than people would normally associate with these two actors but we were not aiming at it. Today as we remember "Shakti" there is fondness for it; there is a lot of respect for it.

Raakhee who was Amitabh's co-star in many movies, played his mother though she is younger to him in real life. Surprisingly she played his co-star in the same year in Bemisaal (1982). She had stated in an interview that she accepted the role since it was opposite the legendary Dilip Kumar.

Anil Kapoor was a struggler then plays the son of Amitabh Bachchan but they did not have a scene together,few years later he went on to do hit films like Meri Jung 1985 and Mr India which were earlier offered to Amitabh Bachchan.

Salim Javed had seen a play of Raj Babbar and were very impressed with Raj Babbar's performance. They put in a good word to Ramesh Sippy and producer's Mushir Riaz, about Raj Babbar's talent. This made the producer's of Shakti to sign Raj Babbar as Dilip Kumar's son in Shakti. The distributors were not very happy with this decision. The distributors told the producers of the film that if Amitabh Bachchan was to play Dilip Kumar's son , the film would be sold for a lot more money. Mushir Riaz decided to drop Raj Babbar from the film and sign Amitabh. This would be the second time Raj Babbar was replaced in a Amitabh Bachchan film ( The first being Namak Halaal, Shashi Kapoor's role)