In a recent interview, Farida Jalal recalled Rajesh Khanna's immense stardom and revealed how she annoyed him by not giving him much attention.
Veteran actress, Farida Jalal began her acting career with the 1969 film, Aradhana, opposite the late megastar, Rajesh Khanna. She portrayed the role of Rajesh's ladylove, 'Renu' in the film. While Farida and Rajesh started their journey in Bollywood around the same time, the latter earned massive stardom. Over the years, Farida has worked with many prominent names, including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and many more.
In a recent interview with Bollywood Bubble, Farida Jalal recalled working with Rajesh Khanna, fondly known as 'Kaka', in the film, Aradhana. She recalled her pleasure experience and shared how Rajesh had become arrogant after the success of the film. Talking about the same, she said:
“Jatin became Rajesh Khanna after the success of Aradhana and by that time, he became a little arrogant as well. After the release of Aradhana, it boosted; plus, he was in a double role. But it was a nice movie. I watch it also sometimes and it deserved all the success as he was very good in Aradhana."
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Rajesh Khanna starrer, Aradhana was a gigantic hit and received massive success. The film ran in theatres for months, and back then, the cast would get felicitated in every city where it had completed a 75-week run. However, despite the huge stardom, Farida never gave Rajesh much importance, which irked him. Talking about the same, Farida said:
”To be honest, I never used to give him so much importance to him, and he was a little annoyed because of that. I was in my own world. He was a little annoyed with that. After the release of the film, the film ran for weeks. It ran for 25 weeks and turned silver jubilee, 50 weeks gold jubilee, 75 weeks diamond jubilee and genuinely it was called the hit film.”
Farida Jalal added that it was during the post-release tour of Aradhana that she and Kaka became friends. However, once during the shoot, she asked Rajesh Khanna if they could rehearse for one more time, and the latter lashed out at her. Farida shared that Sharmila Tagore, whom she used to call ‘Rinku’, always talked from her side and used to protect her. The veteran actress said:
“Toh unn dino jab hum milte the, Kaka aur meri dosti tab hui thi. Shooting set pe nahi hote the. Wo tabh akad ke chalte the, wo aadmi bohot proud hai. Ek baar maine kaha tha ek rehearsal ho jaata, toh wo (chilake) bole kitne rehearsals. Aur main newcomer thi aur mujhe bohot bura laga aur maine keh bhi diya ki aap aise kaise bol sakte hai kitne rehearsals main 10 rehearsals maangungi. Toh jhagda waha hua aur Sharmila ji tabhi bohot protect karti thi (bolke) ‘she is right’ wo hamesha meri taraf se bolti thi. Jab award functions hote the, tab bohot ache dost ban gaye the.“
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Recalling the good old days, Farida Jalal mentioned that she was disgusted to see how girls would run behind Rajesh Khanna, requesting his signatures. She added that she used to get very annoyed with the actor's superstardom back then. However, Farida also mentioned that she never witnessed that level of stardom and craze for an actor in her life. She concluded:
“Main ladkiyaa dekhti thi na sab pagal hogaye the unke peeche. Ladkiya waha aake girti thi and I used to get very annoyed. Ladkiyaa aisi gir rahi hai padh rahi, koi bolta hai yaha sign karo, koi bolta hai waha sign karo and I was disgusted. Toh who bolte the, ‘Dekha, star’. Main toh sochti thi bhi ki inko hua kya hai maine toh movie bhi Karli, gaana bhi gaa liya hai. Joh maine dekha, wo bolna padega ki vaakee iss tarah ki stardom aur deewanapan kisi hero ke liye nahi dekha.“
What are your views on Farida Jalal's revelations?
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