TV
Actor Rajesh Khanna is considered the first superstar of Indian film industry. Though the legendary actor is no more among us, he still is cherished by his fans. He won everyone's hearts with his charisma and powerful onscreen performance. However, his stardom remained for a very short period until Amitabh Bachchan emerged as the 'Angry Young Man' and took over the title. Moreover, his co-star also disclosed that he (Rajesh Khanna) played dirty many times and was disrespectful towards her.
Rajesh Khanna was disrespectful and I gave him back: Moushumi Chatterjee.
During an interview with Lehren Retro, yesteryear actress Moushumi Chatterjee revealed that Kaka was quite disrespectful towards her.
Notably, Kaka and Moushumi worked together in 'Prem Bandhan.' During the movie shoot, the actress was pregnant after she got married to Jayant Mukherjee (Babu).
During the shoot, being disrespectful, Kaka asked if it was Vinod Mehra's child.
During the interview, the actress said, "Yes, it was Rajesh Khanna."
Recalling about the superstar, Moushumi said that 'he played dirty many times'. She also recalled how she hit back at the actor immediately.
"Yes, I gave him back. I asked him, 'Is it Rishi Kapoor's child or yours?'" said Moushumi as she referred to Kaka and Dimple's child.
Well, such a response left Rajesh Khanna speechless.
Further talking about Kaka she said, "Today he is no more. I even went to see him during his last days and he was praising me. He told my daughter, 'Ma must be mad but we were all scared of her. She doesn't believe in any nonsense."
Recalling her wedding in the same interview, Moushumi said that Vinod Mehra was actually the best man at the wedding with Babu.
"Babu ke saath woh padhte the St Xaviers mein. We lived in the same building. I was involved with everyone I never lacked anything in my married life that I'd look out for something."
Rajesh Khanna was difficult to work with: Javed Akhtar
During an interview on the SAM YouTube channel, renowned lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar recalled that Rajesh Khanna was the biggest star in Bollywood but for a short period.
Akhtar said, "Those were the times when a child born in India would say 'Rajesh Khanna' first and then 'Mumma, Papa.' There came a time when we realised that it would be difficult for us to work together because he was surrounded by so many people, so many sycophants and yes men, it was difficult to work with him. So, we parted ways."
"Then we became friendly, and we did a film also much later. But the kind of films that we were writing, and the kind of films that we had in our mind, were much more suitable for an actor like Amitabh Bachchan although he was at that time not a superstar, to say the least, but he was an unbelievably good actor. He was the man who we felt would be able to play our Vijay," added Akhtar.
Notably, Rajesh Khanna worked in movies such as Haathi Mere Saathi and Andaz, written by Salim-Javed.
However, Amitabh Bachchan was a part of several movies penned by Salim-Javed. It won't be wrong to say that Big B got his identity with Salim-Javed. Recently, Salim Khan disclosed that when he parted ways with Javed Akhtar if there was someone who could have stopped that split, then it was Amitabh Bachchan.
