When Amitabh Bachchan got upset with Dhoom 2 director for saying Abhishek Bachchan was ‘finished, beaten’: ‘Why did you hire him?’

Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan shared screen space in Dhoom 2 but director Sanjay Gadhvi openly criticised Bachchan's work in the film, which upset Amitabh Bachchan.

Abhishek Bachchan in a still from Dhoom 2.

When Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan starrer Dhoom 2 became a massive hit at the box office, Amitabh Bachchan was over the moon celebrating his son’s success. But, an interview by the film’s director Sanjay Gadhvi where he apparently said that Abhishek was “finished, beaten” in comparison to his co-star Hrithik left a bitter taste in Big B’s mouth. The film also starred Aishwarya Rai, Bipasha Basu and Uday Chopra.

Released in 2006, Dhoom 2 had Abhishek playing the role of a cop, the same role that he had played in the film’s prequel as well, and Hrithik played the sly Mr A who thrives on robbing

precious items from around the world. When Amitabh learnt about Sanjay’s comments, he made his displeasure known publicly. In a chat with Prabhu Chawla on Seedhi Baat, Bachchan said that it was very “lowly” on a director’s part to criticise an actor from his own film.

“I read that interview where he said about Abhishek that in Dhoom, he is finished, he is beaten. I think that for any director it is a very lowly thing to criticise an actor from their own film. If you did not like Abhishek, then why did you hire him? And if you have hired him, then why would you criticise him?” he questioned.

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Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai in a still from Dhoom 2.

It was evident that Hrithik had a bigger, meatier role in the film and Amitabh acknowledged the same. “The role of his co-actor (Hrithik) was a bigger and better role, as per the script, and it should be that way. But now, saying that because of this, the other actor (Abhishek), he is beaten, I found this very low,” he said.

When asked if Abhishek shouldn’t have done the film, Amitabh said that he was proud of his son for doing the role despite knowing that he had a smaller part. He said, “I am proud of him for doing this role because he knew what the role was. He shared a good relationship with producer Aditya Chopra, he told him to do the film. Despite knowing that he had a smaller part, he did it.”

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Amitabh also highlighted that the Dhoom franchise was the story of the cops and “if he (Abhishek) wasn’t there in this film, then there was no story. But because this is Dhoom 2, and he was there in Dhoom 1, and if there are any more Dhoom films in the future, his character will continue to be there because he is the cop.”

After directing the first two Dhoom film, Sanjay Gadhvi did not return to direct Dhoom 3. The third film of the franchise, starring Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Uday Chopra and Abhishek Bachchan, was directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya. Sanjay later directed films like Kidnap and Ajab Gazabb Love. His last directorial was 2020’s Operation Parindey, which released on ZEE5.

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