Was 'Bombay To Goa' offered to Rajiv Gandhi before Amitabh Bachchan?

Amitabh Bachchan’s first hit film was the 1972 musical comedy thriller Bombay To Goa. While it is much-viewed over the years with an ever-renewable entertainment quotient, not many know that this fun-fest of a film was first offered to none other than Rajiv Gandhi.

The one to make this audacious offer to the handsome son of Indira Gandhi was the comic virtuoso, Mehmood. And no, he wasn’t joking.

While Rajiv Gandhi’s exact reaction to the offer is not known, it is believed that the softspoken politician suggested his best friend Amitabh Bachchan’s name for the lead.

That’s how Amitabh Bachchan got his first hit.

Speaking of hits, there is another story from the behind-the-scenes of Bombay To Goa. According to Shatrughan Sinha who played the villain, Amitabh Bachchan accidentally hit Shatrughan Sinha in his face during an action sequence.

Recalls Sinha, “I started bleeding profusely. There was panic on location. I was of course nervous. But Amitabh was much more nervous and panic-stricken than me. He became so disturbed that I had to console and pacify him although I was the injured party.”