Rajesh Khanna once signed a film without reading the script when he was on a roll of delivering hit films.
Rajesh Khanna was crowned as the first superstar of Bollywood. Back in the day, the actor delivered 17 consecutive box-office hits. However, when he was in the middle of this streak and basking in superstardom, he reportedly started signing films without reading their scripts. In the flow of things, the actor signed a film and even took a signing amount of Rs. 5 lakh cash. Later, he realised that the film was, in fact, 'terrible'. The actor still didn't want to back out from the film as he was promised a massive paycheck of Rs. 9 lakh. Rajesh stuck by his commitment and did the film, but only after he selected writers to rework the script.
Yasser Usman’s book, Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India’s First Superstar, recalled the anecdote behind Rajesh Khanna not backing out from the film. The book shared that the actor was trying to buy a sea-facing bungalow named 'Aashirwaad'. For the unversed, the bungalow belonged to the yesteryear star, Rajendra Kumar, for which Rajesh had to put together a handsome amount. This was the time when the actor was offered a film in Chennai titled, MMA Chinnappa Devar. The film was based on the story of a man and his pet elephants. The film was later renamed to Haathi Mere Saathi. The massive paycheck offered for the film was the reason why the actor said yes to the film without reading the script.
The book further shared that the actor, Dheeraj Kumar, had once shared that 'Kaka' (Rajesh Khanna) used to walk around with a suitcase filled with cash, which he showed to anyone who was willing to take a look. Dheeraj revealed that during those days, everyone in the film fraternity would talk about Rajesh's massive signing amount. He was quoted saying:
"This was huge money. I hadn’t ever seen Rs. 5 lakh in cash myself. One day, while shooting at Famous Studios, Kaka called me to his room. He told me to open a suitcase with Rs. 5 lakh in cash."
Rajesh Khanna was enjoying the cash he was offered when he got the script of the film, which shocked him. He was disappointed and called the wordsmith duo, Salim-Javed, to re-work the script. The duo had yet to make a name for themselves then and were still working as salaried employees at Sippy Films. Talking about the incident, Salim Khan of Salim-Javed told Yasser:
"He took a lot of money when he signed the film. When he read the script later and got to know about Devar’s Tamil films, he got scared. He called me and said, 'This is a terrible script. I could have rejected it outright, but I have taken a huge amount.' I think he needed money to buy a house and a new car. So he took more than his market price. I think it was Rs 9 lakh, which was Rs 4 lakh more than his market price at that time. And Rs 5 lakh was the signing amount."
After Rajesh Khanna gave the duo, Salim-Javed, the script, they changed everything except the pet elephants. Thus naming the film, Haathi Mere Saathi. The changes proved efficient as they kept 'Kaka's' streak of hits unbroken and gave Salim-Javed one of the earlier hits.
Rajesh Khanna was able to fulfil his wish to buy the property. Soon after the film's release, he bought the bungalow, and his father named it 'Aashirwaad'. The reason behind the choice for the name was reported that even if people sent the actor hate mail, they would write it with a blessing, 'Rajesh Khanna. Aashirwaad'.
What are your thoughts on Rajesh Khanna's decision to sign the film?
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