Nitin Gadkari affectionately refers to Amitabh Bachchan as his 'favorite hero,' expressing, "I once told him that I have watched Zanjeer thrice."

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, addressing the Rising Bharat Summit 2024, touched upon various aspects of India's development, upcoming elections, and more. However, his unexpected mention of Amitabh Bachchan in the discourse caught everyone by surprise.

During his conversation with Amish Devgan, Nitin Gadkari was presented with a series of pictures of Bollywood stars and asked to pick his favorite from the list. Among the actors, including Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, and Vikrant Massey, he mentioned, "Yeh log ache hai, Ranveer ki dekhi thi meine, Bajirao Mastani." When asked to choose between Alia Bhatt, Kiara Advani, and Taapsee Pannu, he responded, "Inn teeno ki bhi filmein meine nahi dekhi." He went on to express his appreciation for all the actors' performances but singled out Amitabh Bachchan as his favorite.

Nitin Gadkari then reminisced about a candid moment he shared with Big B. "Humare generation mein Amitabh Bachchan hai. Yehi humare favorite hero tha. I used to follow Amitabh Bachchan’s trends. I once told him as well that I have watched Zanjeer thrice, watched Anand three to four times. I enjoyed his action films," the political leader said.

Co-written and directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, with dialogues penned by Gulzar, ‘Anand’ is a 1971 cult Hindi film starring Rajesh Khanna in the lead role. The supporting cast includes Amitabh Bachchan, Sumita Sanyal, Ramesh Deo, and Seema Deo.

‘Zanjeer’ is a Hindi action film released in 1973. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Pran, Ajit Khan, and Bindu. Directed and produced by Prakash Mehra, the screenplay was written by Salim-Javed.