When Amitabh Bachchan Revealed That No Distributor Was Willing To Accept Chandra Barot's Don: "They All Thought..."

Veteran filmmaker Chandra Barot died on Sunday, July 20. He was 86. His wife, Deepa Barot, confirmed the news and told TOI, “He had been battling pulmonary fibrosis for the past seven years.”

Did you know that when Chandra Barot's 1978 cult classic film, Don, was released, many distributors were not too happy with the film's title? Not only that, several people even confused the title with the name of an undergarment brand.

In fact, in a 2020 blog post, Amitabh Bachchan shared a funny anecdote about it. He wrote, "When Chandra and Salim-Javed announced the name of the film as Don, no distributor was willing to accept the title. They all thought it to be named after the Dawn underwear, a popular brand during those times. The film 'Godfather' was just making a mark in film circles. The word Don was unknown till then,” as quoted by Business Standard.

Don features Amitabh Bachchan in dual roles – Don and Vijay – alongside Zeenat Aman as Roma, Pran as Jasjit, Iftekhar as DSP D'Silva and Om Shivpuri as Vardhaan. The cast also includes Satyen Kappu, P. Jairaj, Kamal Kapoor, Arpana Choudhary and Helen.

The film follows the story of a wanted criminal named Don. During a chase, Don dies, but only one police officer knows the truth. To catch the rest of Don's gang, the officer recruits a simple man named Vijay who happens to look exactly like Don.

Before turning director, Chandra Barot worked as an assistant director on films like Purab Aur Pachhim, Yaadgaar, Shor and Roti Kapada Aur Makaan. Apart from Don, he directed projects like Aashrita, Pyar Bhara Dil, Hong Kong Wali Script and Neil Ko Pakadna... Impossible.