The Burning Train.
There has been an era of multi-starrer films in Bollywood for many years. Amitabh Bachchan has also been a part of many such multi-starrer films. Even today multi-starrer films are considered a formula for success. This is the reason why many films like ‘Singham Again’, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ and ‘Stree 2’ became superhits using this formula. Talking about the old times, many films from ‘Sholay’, ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ to ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ climbed the ladder of success in this way. However, sometimes it happens that people do not come to watch films with many stars. Today we will talk about such a film in which even 6 superstars failed. Amitabh Bachchan rejected this movie which earned a penny, but even after being a flop, this movie is counted among the cult cinema.
Because of this Amitabh did not do the film
We are talking about the film ‘The Burning Trail’ released in the year 1980, which was a film based on a train disaster. A train named Super Express was shown in this film. The entire story revolves around this train and the people traveling in it. The journey of this train starts from Delhi and goes to Mumbai. The first journey of this train is shown and the train catches fire on the very first day. This film was produced by BR Chopra along with Ravi Chopra. The film had 6 stars like Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Vinod Khanna, Jeetendra, Parveen Bobby and Neetu Kapoor in lead roles. During the announcement of the film, Amitabh Bachchan was also a part of the cast, but later he distanced himself from the film. It was told that Amitabh Bachchan’s schedule did not match with the schedule of the film.
The star-studded film flopped
There were many other big names in the film as well. Many famous faces like Vinod Mehra, Danny Denzongpa, Naveen Nischal, Simi Garewal, Asha Sachdev, Nazir Hussain, Iftikhar, Jagdish Raj, Mac Mohan, Ranjeet, Asrani, Keshto Mukherjee, Sudha Shivpuri and Younus Parvez became a part of the film. Despite having a star-studded cast, ‘The Burning Train’ became one of India’s biggest flops upon release. Even at that time, the cost of making this film was Rs 5 crore. The film took a good opening, but its long runtime kept audiences away from theatres. This film directed by Ravi Chopra could earn only Rs 6 crore at the worldwide box office. After this, this film became a big hit on Doordarshan for many years. People still like watching this film on sitcoms and that is why it got the status of cult classic even if late.
Compensation not given to Government of India
This 1980 film took five years to make, as a real train was required for its production, and a real fire was set in this train to show realism. To facilitate this, the makers hired a real train from the Government of India. While the film was being shot, trains and other railway properties were damaged, causing losses worth crores. The Government of India also sought compensation from the producer, but BR Chopra refused, saying that he was already in debt due to the film’s failure at the box office.
