Rajesh Khanna passionately carved his way into the film – Anand

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One of India’s biggest superstar of the country – Rajesh Khanna carved his way into the finest film – ‘Anand’. Hrishikesh Mukherjee wanted to make ‘Anand’ with his best friend Raj Kapoor. However, due to the ill health of Raj Kapoor, it got Hrishikesh Mukherjee superstitious that the reel character of the film shouldn’t affect the real life of the Show Man and hence he dropped the idea of casting Mr. Kapoor for this iconic film. He then discussed the film with number of other talents in the industry, from Bengali film superstar – Uttam Kumar to Shashi Kapoor and even Kishore Kumar, but unfortunately or fortunately, these artists couldn’t be part of the film. It was during this time that Rajesh Khanna got introduced to the concept of 'Anand' through Gulzar who was the common link between the actor and the director. Rajesh Khanna instantly fell in love with the film and reached out to Hrishida. A commercial superstar who was at his career’s peak after giving hits like Aradhna and Do Raaste, was passionate to be part of this small budget film left Hrishikesh Mukherjee total amazed. Though Hrishida was excited with the level of interest shown by Rajesh Khanna, but being realistic at the same time, he kept three conditions or rather expressed 3 wishes in front of the acclaimed romantic hero of the nation. First one being that though Rajesh Khanna’s market price at that time was around 8 lacs per film, but Hrishikesh Mukherjee could only afford around 1 Lac as fees to be paid to Rajesh Khanna for this film, second one was that he demanded total punctuality from the superstar and third one that he would require bulk dates from this busiest actor. Complying to his own determination to be in the film, Rajesh Khanna agreed to all by putting forth his diary in front of Hrishida to fill out the dates he wanted to shoot. This is how ‘Anand’ - the highly celebrated film of the country got his leading man in Rajesh Khanna. ‘Anand’ gave two superstars – Rajesh Khanna & Amitabh Bachchan, one of the most remembered role of their careers and is considered as a cult movie

Source: Suhanna Safar with Annu Kapoor – 92.7 Big FM