New Delhi: Film writers often decry absence of due credit, but here was megastar Amitabh Bachchan at a conclave here Friday, glorifying their talent for moulding his profound image as an actor with movies like `Zanjeer` and `Kaala Patthar`.
The 71-year-old thespian was in the capital for a talk on "Cinema as the mirror of society", and was asked how he managed to bring the society`s pains and pressures so effectively on the screen with his movies.
"The image was more an instigation from the people who wrote films at that time. I would credit the writers of that time... writers like Salim-Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar). They thought about it. I am merely an actor who happened to get a role in films like that," Amitabh said humbly.
When `Zanjeer` came out in 1973, the corruption levels and low economic growth had cast a pall of gloom on the country and the common man was upset with the system - a predicament which was well-captured with the angst in Amitabh`s iconic portrayal as Inspector Vijay Khanna.
"They (the writers felt the anguish, the wrath, discontent and dissatisfaction among the people in the society and embodied it in one man - the angry young man (Inspector Vijay Khanna in `Zanjeer`)," said Big B, adding that he hates such "epithets".
His 1979 film `Kaala Pathhar`, also penned by the indomitable Salim-Javed, highlighted the plight of coal miners and was also in sync with reality.
But Amitabh said: "I am just the voice in the films, but the thoughts and words are of the writers. The cinematic expression is of the writers."
The response, as expected, was met with applause.