BOLLYWOOD

The real life father-son duo Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan played the reel father-son duo Subhash Nagre aka Sarkar and Shankar Nagre in the 2005 political crime thriller Sarkar. An unofficial remake of the Hollywood classic The Godfather, the Ram Gopal Varma directorial also starred Katrina Kaif, Anupam Kher, Kay Kay Menon, and Supriya Pathak in the leading roles.

Amitabh recently re-watched Sarkar after 20 years and was "dazzled" by Abhishek's performance in the film. Taking to his blog on Tuesday, the superstar wrote, "And today while I waited for the Internet to be alive again, after the net people said for the nth time, that the cable has been cut due to the digging...I just scrambled through the lists as they came up and, for some reason, saw the poster of SARKAR."

"Started seeing the film - had not seen it since its premier release - and was glued to it .. in absolute amazement at the quality of the film, its direction and above all, and this is not a Father speaking, dazzled by Abhishek’s performance .. what restrain what close up what eye expressions, what presence and what a performance", the Sholay star further added.

Amitabh concluded that he himself was "nowhere" in the film and all he could see was Abhishek as he wrote, "I am nowhere in the film...seriously...it was all Abhishek...Watch it again and see for yourself...every little nuance and look and silence, simply stunning. This is not a father speaking, it is a true evaluator of cinema speaking...nothing in the range of depreciation or modesty, it is a true appreciation of the craft of the film and of Abhishek...Dazzled still."

Sarkar led to two sequels Sarkar Raj in 2008 and Sarkar 3 in 2017. Amitabh's daughter-in-law and Abhishek's wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played a pivotal role in the sequel Sarkar Raj, which was also commercially successful as the first part. Sarkar Raj, the third installment in the political thriller franchise, flopped at the box office.

• Amitabh Bachchan
• Abhishek Bachchan
• Sarkar
• Ram Gopal Varma
• Sarkar Raj
• Sarkar 3
• Amitabh Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan
• Amitabh Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan films
• Sarkar The Godfather remake