Ramesh Sippy's Sholay was an ensemble film, where actors ceased to be stars and were known as Jai, Veeru, Basanti and Gabbar Singh. Amitabh made his presence felt with brooding intensity and cynical witticism through his enigmatic character, Jai.

Shaan, Sippy's lavish follow-up after Sholay was rather frivolous fare and did not demand much from AB apart from star appeal.

But Shakti scaled new dimensions for the actor. Pitted against Dilip Kumar, Amitabh was brilliant as the misunderstood, frustrated and rebellious son. Despite a good opening, the film failed to hold audiences' interest. Sippy once explained it was probably because Amitabh was portrayed as a loser.

Akayla, their last collaboration together, was another blotch on Amitabh's low patch.