Amitabh Bachchan & Sanjay Dutt Movies Together List — 10 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s account for 80% of everything they made together. The 1990s belonged to Kroadh; the 2010s to Department. Amitabh Bachchan acted in every film; Sanjay Dutt acted in all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• They first shared screen space in 2002's 'Hum Kisise Kum Nahin', but the real spark came later that same year when Sanjay Dutt personally convinced Amitabh Bachchan to play the aging gangster in 'Kaante'. Bachchan was hesitant about the role; Dutt told him it would be 'the coolest thing he'd ever done'.
• In 'Shootout at Lokhandwala' (2007), Bachchan played the cop and Dutt played the gangster. Dutt later admitted that Bachchan deliberately slowed down his own dialogue delivery in their face-off scene so Dutt's raw, aggressive energy would pop more on screen. Bachchan never told him he was doing it.
• Their 2005 film 'Viruddh... Family Comes First' was the first mainstream Hindi film to openly tackle the issue of elder abandonment in urban India. It directly inspired the 2007 Marathi play 'Aai Tula Vachav' and later the 2012 Hindi film 'Papa Kehte Hain' — both about elderly parents being left alone.
• During the making of 'Eklavya: The Royal Guard' (2007), Bachchan and Dutt shared a vanity van for the entire shoot in Rajasthan. Dutt would make tea for Bachchan every morning — a ritual Bachchan later said 'made me feel like I had a younger brother on set'.
• Sanjay Dutt on Amitabh Bachchan after 'Department' (2012): 'He doesn't act with you. He acts for you. In every scene, he gives you the line, the pause, the reaction — he makes you look good. That's why I did eight films with him. I never had to act. I just had to be there.'