Amitabh Bachchan says Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra designed his French beard for Aks, which he ‘hasn’t removed since’

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra recently launched his autobiography, titled The Stranger In The Mirror. On Thursday, he revealed a new excerpt from the book, this time by the lead actor of his debut movie Aks, Amitabh Bachchan.

The quote by Amitabh read, “He was the one who designed by French beard for his film Aks; I haven’t removed it since.” Sharing it, Rakeysh wrote, “Can a debut director ask for a more legendary initiation onto the big screen?”

Earlier, in another excerpt from the book, Rakeysh had revealed how Amitabh had reacted when he read the film’s script.

In a note titled Let’s Do It in The Stranger in the Mirror, Rakeysh wrote, “It was the winter of 1998. I had given Amit ji (Amitabh Bachchan) a script that he was supposed to read over an evening flight to Delhi (Hope springs eternal!). I was quivering like a fiddle string, excited with anticipation, about what he would think.”

“Unexpectedly, my phone rang at 11 p.m. A hushed voice spoke to me, whispering and yet managing to drown the mechanical, oddly piercing background noise of a plane making its way after landing. AB: What were you drinking? Me: Sorry sir! AB: What were you drinking when you wrote this script? Me: Rum and Coke, sir. AB: Let’s do it!”

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In the book, Rakeysh has also spoken about his other films such as Rang De Basanti and Delhi-6. Rakeysh’s latest release was Toofaan with Farhan Akhtar.

The book has been co-authored by Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta and features first-person accounts of celebrities such as Waheeda Rahman, AR Rahman, Manoj Bajpayee, Abhishek Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Ronnie Screwvala, Atul Kulkarni, R. Madhavan, Divya Dutta, and Prahlad Kakar.