In 1988 on December 23rd Amitabh Bachchan movie Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswathi was released at the box office. Unfortunately due to some technical changes the movie turned out to be a major flop. It was directed by the renowned master director Manmohan Desai who announced his retirement from the film industry even before the completion of this movie. Scriptwriter Kader Khan wrote the movie script thinking about Amitabh Bachchan, Jeetendra, and Rishi Kapoor for the roles. All the three actors were finalised for the role but later on after facing some disagreements with Kader Khan, Desai decided to make a new film written by Prayagraj based on a new script.
Desai’s Last Film and Bachchan’s Rare Flop
The new film was titled ‘Ganga Jamunaa Saraswathi,’ starring Amitabh Bachchan as Ganga Prasad, Meenakshi Sheshadri as Jamuna, and Jaya Prada as Saraswati. Anu Malik composed a total of 10 songs for the movie, with lyrics by Indeevar and Prayagraj. The music was well-received, and the movie had a good soundtrack.
The Fall of a Giant in 1988
Now, let’s talk about the story. It revolves around two passionate lovers, Ganga and Jamuna, who get separated during an incident. Meanwhile, Saraswathi, another woman, starts liking Ganga. The rest of the star cast includes Nirupa Roy, Amrish Puri, Mahesh Anand, Jackie Shroff, Bharat Bhushan, Goga Kapoor, and others. The screenplay was written by K.K. Shukla, and the dialogues were by Kader Khan. Mithun was not happy with his role after seeing the final editing, feeling that Manmohan Desai had treated him unfairly. Because of this, Mithun chose not to complete the dubbing for the film. The remaining dubbing was done by Sudesh Bhosle.
When the movie was released, it had a decent opening in the first week, but the public response was not favorable, leading to a decline in collections from the second week onwards. Except for Delhi and Punjab territories, the movie performed poorly in other regions. This marked a downward phase for Amitabh Bachchan’s career.
In 1989, several movies of Amitabh Bachchan, including ‘Ganga Jamunaa Saraswathi,’ faced failure at the box office. This became a challenging period for him in the industry.
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