It  happens only in India, goes a Govinda song. These words never seem truer than when applied to the incidents that happen in Bollywood. But even by the unpredictable standards of the Indian entertainment industry, this one takes the cake and the  bakery.

It happened  in  early 1970s when Amitabh Bachchan, fresh  raw and struggling for a foothold, signed  a potboiler titled Duniya Ka Mela. The film  was directed by Kundan Kumar; a  little-known name today, but a biggish gun in the 1960s and 70s, Kundan Kumar helmed  musical hits like  Ganga Maiya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo (1962, India’s first Bhojpuri  blockbuster), Aulad (1968, the  Jeetendra-Babita starrer best-known for the comedic song Jodi hamari  jamegi kaise) , Pardesi (1970, a slinky Mumtaz dancing to Chitragupta’s hit tunes) and Anokhi Ada (Jeetendra-Rekha’s first hit together).

In 1973, before  Amitabh Bachchan’s Zanjeer turned him overnight  into India’s biggest  star, Kundan Kumar launched Duniya Ka Mela with Rekha and a struggler named Amitabh Bachchan. Distributors  advised Kundan Kumar against what they saw as a foolhardy move. Until that  point of time Amitabh had featured only in a few films such as like Saat Hindustani, Pyar Ki Kahani, Bombay To Goa, Parwana and Gehri Chaal. In the last two mentioned films AB Sr. played villainous roles and was seriously thinking of trying his luck as a villain, a la Shatrughan Sinha.

But Kundan stuck to his guns. He  even shot a romantic duet Yeh chehra yeh zulfen jadoo sa kar rahe hain  composed by the hit-makers Laxmikant-Pyarelal, and filmed on  Rekha and the almost-newcomer Amitabh Bachchan. This is when the  distributors  threatened  to  back out of the project. They advised Kundan   Kumar to get rid of the semi-newcomer and replace him with someone more viewer-friendly.

Bachchan was then sacked overnight, and not even informed properly of his  loss. He was replaced by the then-hot and saleable Sanjay Khan (who  appeared in films as only ‘Sanjay’ in the credit titles back then!) Sanjay (with or without the Khan) had delivered a slew of  successes  in the  late 60s and early 70s.

By the time Duniya Ka Mela was released in 1974 , Sanjay  Khan’s career was on the downslide and Amitabh Bachchan after Zanjeer  took over the entire entertainment  industry.

The same duet song from Duniya  Ka Mela, which turned out as a flop,  was shot with Bachchan and Rekha. However it was once again re-shot with Sanjay and Rekha.

Technically Duniya Ka Mela is  the first Amitabh-Rekha starrer, although the one that released first with them in the lead was Do Anjaane in 1976  (where believe it not, Rekha elopes with Prem Chopra after marrying Amitabh Bachchan).

Speaking of the experience Amitabh Bachchan says he holds absolutely no grudges. “I was grappling with flops. I was grateful that they even considered me for the film. I was  replaced by Mr. Sanjay Khan who was  big star during those times.”

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