Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 2 : Filmmaker Subhash Ghai needs no introduction. His works speak volumes about the ace director and in his career span, he worked with a number of actors.
He has the credit of bringing two great actors Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar into one project, despite their year-long differences. Legendary actors Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar were seen sharing screen space in the 1959 film 'Paigham'.
Ghai recalled working with the legends in the 1991 film, ‘Saudagar’, and how he managed to bring them on board.
He told ANI, “People remarked at the time of the 'Saudagar' that, ‘you would not be able to work with these two since their rivalry has lasted 30 years and they would bring you a lot of trouble’. I went to them and said, ‘This is what everyone says: ‘You will trouble me a lot’, and started laughing and said, ‘We will not trouble you, and we are with you." I told them that their roles in the film would be parallel.”
Ghai further recalled how Raaj Kumar got upset and refused to do the film and finally how he convinced him to be part of the movie.
“When the shooting was going on and Raaj ji listened to Haryanvi dialogue being delivered by Dilip sahib, he said, 'You didn't tell me that he will be delivering such dialogues', and I added, 'I didn't even tell you about the outfits'. He responded, 'Aese to mai haar jaunga' and 'I cannot do this film,' and I said, ‘Okay, we will not do the film’. Later that night, I went to meet him and told him about the role and its peculiarities."
After explaining to him in detail about the differences in the roles, Ghai told Raaj Kumar that he wouldn't force him to be part of his film, "I couldn't force you to be a part of it," added the director.
After having the conversation with the veteran actor, the next day Ghai reached the shooting location and wrote a letter to Raaj Kumar that he would be waiting for him.
"The next day, I went to the shoot and sent him a letter at the reception saying that ‘I will be waiting for you on the set by 9'o o'clock’, and he arrived at 9’o o'clock."
Ghai added that afterwards there were no differences between them and he spoke all the dialogues in Hindi without creating any issue.
"He spoke all the Hindi dialogues in the film. We had no disagreements or concerns after that. Raaj ji surrendered himself to me. Even Dilip Sahib was surprised by Raaj ji's behaviour. "
The director mentioned that after the film was complete Raaj Kumar wrote a letter to him and he mentioned in the letter that, "'the audience was complimenting me for my role and stating that I am as good as Dilip Kumar’, so you actually built our character parallel," he said.
Ghai further talked about working with veterans Dilip Kumar and Naseeruddin Shah in the 1986 film ‘Karma’.
“Nasir was a junior actor in my FTII, and we were also friends. He is more involved in art cinema and has gotten an award, yet, when I made this commercial film and told him about the role he was ready. But when the shooting started, I realised he was from a different school. On set, we used to joke and enjoy ourselves while he sat seriously in a corner. He felt at a point that justice was not being done to him. When I needed to show a clash between Dilip Kumar and him in a scene, he wasn't present at times, while Dilip Sahib didn't turn over at others. It was difficult to shoot that scene I took different shots with them and completed filming the sequence.”
Ghai’s notable works include ‘Kalicharan’, ‘Vishwanath’, ‘Karz’, ‘Hero’, ‘Vidhaata’, ‘Karma’, ‘Ram Lakhan’, ‘Saudagar’, ‘Khalnayak’, ‘Pardes’, and ‘Taal’.
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