Chandra Barot, the director behind the 1978 classic Don starring Amitabh Bachchan, passed away on Sunday at the age of 86.
His wife, Deepa Barot, confirmed the news. She told TOI that Barot had been dealing with pulmonary fibrosis for the last seven years. He was receiving treatment at Guru Nanak Hospital under Dr. Manish Shetty’s care, and had previously been admitted to Jaslok Hospital as well.
OG Don Director Chandra Barot Dies At 86
Farhan Akhtar—who’s currently helming the third Don film—shared his tribute on Instagram: “Saddened to learn that the director of the OG Don is no more. RIP Chandra Barot-ji. Deepest condolences to the family.”
Barot’s journey as a director began with Don, a film that came together when actor-producer Nariman Irani ran into financial trouble after Zindagi Zindagi flopped in 1972. Barot and his team stepped in to help, pulling in writers Salim-Javed for the script, which had already been turned down by stars like Dev Anand, Dharmendra, and Jeetendra.
After Don, Barot directed a few Bengali films, including Aashrita (1989) and Pyar Bhara Dil (1991). But a handful of his other projects—such as Boss and Neil Ko Pakadna… Impossible—never saw the light of day.
Don’s legacy didn’t end with the original. In 2006, Shah Rukh Khan starred in a reimagined version, which was dedicated to Barot. That reboot spawned a sequel, and now the franchise is set for a third chapter, this one directed by Farhan Akhtar and featuring Ranveer Singh and Kriti Sanon in the lead.
When Dev Anand and Dharmendra rejected Don
The film that pretty much everyone wanted to pass on at first (Dev Anand, Jitendra, Dharmendra… the whole lot), and get this: when it finally hit theatres in 1978, there was barely anyone in the audience. No one cared. For a few days, it looked like another flop was in the making.
Producer Nariman Irani, who was already knee-deep in debt after his first film bombed, got a nudge from his friends—Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, and director Chandra Barot—to give it one more shot. They even convinced him to work with them for free unless the movie actually made money. That’s how desperate things were.
Now, the story itself was a struggle to get off the ground. Salim-Javed, the legendary writing duo, couldn’t find a single taker for their script.
Ironically, it was Nariman’s wife, Salma, who happened to be Waheeda Rehman’s hairdresser, that slipped the script to the right people through Waheeda herself. In Bollywood, luck sometimes comes from the most unexpected places.
Finally, Nariman Irani decided to trust his gut and registered the film under the name “Don”—a title that both Salim-Javed and Chandra Barot liked. The soundtrack? Absolute fire. Kalyanji-Anandji crafted songs that would become classics, and here’s a quirky tidbit: ‘Khaike Paan Banaras Wala’ was originally written for a completely different movie (Banarasi Babu, with Dev Anand).
The cast ended up being a who’s who of Bollywood in the late ’70s: Amitabh Bachchan (pulling double duty as both Don and his lookalike, Vijay), Zeenat Aman, Pran, Helen, and a handful of other legends. \
The film, directed by Chandra Barot and penned by Salim-Javed, wasn’t just your average thriller—it turned Amitabh Bachchan into an icon and rewrote the rules for Bollywood blockbusters.
