‘I Smiled Each Time Amitabh Slipped’

Rajesh
Khanna:
‘When
I
saw

Namak
Haram,
I
knew
my
time
was
up.’
‘I
told
Hrishida,
“Here
is
the
superstar
of
tomorrow”.’

Amitabh
Bachchan
and

Rajesh
Khanna
have
rarely
shared
a
platform.
But
when
they
have,
Bollywood’s
biggest
superstars
certainly
know
how
to
pull
off
a
show.

So
their
joint
interview
for
a
1990
edition
of
the

Movie
magazine
was
a
read
for
the
ages.

Here’s
another
interesting
excerpt
from
their
conversation,
as
told
to
then

Movie
editor

Dinesh
Raheja.

Amit,
in
my
esteem
you
are
a
very
good
actor.
But
you’ve
become
typecast
as
the
angry
man.
Do
you
agree
that
you’ve
become
a
victim
of
your
own
image?

Amitabh
Bachchan:
Absolutely.
It’s
sad
because
every
time
something
else
was
tried
out,
it
didn’t
succeed.

Eventually,
you
know,
we
are
all
going
to
end
up
doing
character
roles!

Kaka
has
been
a
romantic
all
his
life,
so
perhaps
he
will
continue
to
play
romantic
roles.

But
I
will
not
be
able
to.
So
it’s
pack
up
time
for
me.

Rajesh
Khanna:
No,
I
don’t
agree
with
you
at
all.
A
good
actor
never
says
die.

I
saw
just
two
reels
of

Deewar
and
honestly,
I
said,
‘Wah
kya
baat
hai!‘

Talent
was
there
in

Anand
or

Namak
Haram
too.
I
mean

handi
mein
se
agar
chawal
ka
ek
daana
nikalo
to
pata
lag
jaata
hai.
But
talent
needs
the
right
break.

After

Deewar,
I
always
envied
him.

Only
thing
is,
I
smiled
each
time
he
slipped
because
he
made
the
same
mistakes
that
I
once
made.

I
would
like
to
ask
you
a
personal
question.
People
say
that
Rajesh
Khanna
is
a
very
calculative
person.
Was
I
ever
mean
as
a
senior
to
a
junior?

Amitabh
Bachchan:
We
never
ever
bickered
or
argued
or
tried
to
upstage
one
another
in
any
manner.

When
Hrishida
asked
me
to
work
with
Rajesh
Khanna
in

Anand,
it
was
a
dream
come
true
for
me.

The
hysteria
that
be
evoked
was
witnessed
for
the
first
time
in
the
history
of
Hindi
films.
I
got
famous
purely
because
I
was
working
with
Rajesh
Khanna.

People
came
and
asked
me
questions
like
‘How
does
he
look?’,
‘What
does
he
do?’

So
I
became
very
important,
thanks
to
him.
I
have
always
had
the
greatest
respect
for
Kaka.

How
do
you
feel
about
the
fact
that
you
replaced
Rajesh
Khanna
at
the
Number
1
position?

Amitabh
Bachchan:
It’s
just
a
question
of
economics.
It’s
not
that
somebody
outshone
the
other.

And
you,
Rajesh?
How
did
you
feel
about
his
ascendancy
directly
dislodging
you?

Rajesh
Khanna:
When
I
saw

Namak
Haram
at
a
trial
at
Liberty
cinema,
I
knew
my
time
was
up.

I
told
Hrishida,
‘Here
is
the
superstar
of
tomorrow.’

When
it
was
Amitabh
Bachchan
at
the
top,
no
other
star
came
anywhere
near.
You
were
Number
1
to
10,
the
next
one
was
Number
11.

Before
that,
there
was
only
Rajesh
Khanna.

Both
of
you
married
talented
actresses
who
stopped
working
after
marriage.
Why
did
you
curb
them?

Rajesh
Khanna:
I
had
no
problems
about
my
wife
working.

But
when
I
married
Dimple,
I
wanted
a
mother
for
my
children.
I
didn’t
want
them
to
be
brought
up
by
servants.

And
I
had
no
idea
of
Dimple’s
talent;

Bobby
was
still
not
released.

Recently,
when
I
told
one
of
my
daughters
Twinkle,
that
if
she
would
like
to
act
in
a
film,
I
would
produce
one
for
her.

She
said,
‘You
will
let
me
act,
but
to
mummy
you
say
no.’

I
said,
‘For
the
simple
reason
that
I
am
your
father
and
not
your
husband.’
To
curb
talent
is
cruel.
By
the
time
I
saw

Bobby
our
first
daughter
was
already
born.

Amitabh
Bachchan:
I
feel
that
how
I
want
my
married
life
to
be
conducted
should
really
be
between
Jaya
and
me.

Anyway,
I
have
never
objected
to
Jaya
working
in
films.

But
she
herself
said,
‘I
don’t
feel
nice
working
in
films.’

Rajesh
Khanna:
Why
did
she
work
in

Silsila?

Amitabh
Bachchan:
I
left
it
entirely
on
her.
If
she
wanted
to
work,
she
did.

Rajesh
Khanna:
When
you
say
you
are
finished,
I
don’t
agree
because
a
good
actor
is
never
finished.
I
don’t
like
your
pessimism.

Amitabh
Bachchan:
I
am
not
renouncing
acting.

But
that
kind
of
hysteria,
that
mystique,
the
adulation
surely
cannot
exist
forever.

Rajesh
Khanna:
Listen
to
me,
recently
I
attended
a
show
with
you
and
you
were
superb.

Amitabh
Bachchan:
Maybe
I
should
meet
you
more
often
Kaka!
You
are
very
complimentary!