Throwback: Raj Kumar threw handful of gulaal in arch-rival Dilip Kumar’s eyes in.’Saudagar’
Throwback: Raj Kumar threw handful of gulaal in arch-rival Dilip Kumar’s eyes in.’Saudagar’
Legendary actors Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar may have played as great friends in director Subhash Ghai’s Saudagar. But, off-screen,
they were arch rivals who reportedly didn’t speak with each other for more than three decades before they were cast in the 1991 film.
And while the popular Holi song “Imli Ka Boota” celebrates their on-screen friendship, in reality, shooting the song was a Herculean task for the crew.
Owing to their evident animosity, friction on the sets of the film was inevitable.
Actor Prashant Narayanan, who was working as assistant art director on the film, recalled how things escalated to a dangerous degree amidst the filming of the Holi song.
Four people instructed
Raaj Kumar that he shouldn’t throw gulaal directly on Dilip Kumar’s face as he was wearing contact lenses. Dilip had specifically said, ‘Don’t throw gulaal directly at his face because it might get into his eyes.’
They hit their marks, the shot was lit, everybody was ready. And then, Subhash Ghai went and whispered to Raaj Kumar
to be careful. When four people tell you the same thing, there’s going to be a problem. Raaj Kumar looked around, and said, ‘Lights off…’ He walked off and lit a cigarette,” Prashant told the media in a recent interview, adding that he was standing amidst the two stars, holding a tray of Holi colours.
The incident made everyone present on the set uncomfortable. Raaj Kumar continued smoking while there was a pin-drop silence,” he recalled. Finally, the two actors were ready to shoot the scene.
He was supposed to grab a pinch of the colour and throw it near Dilip saab’s face. But Raaj Kumar grabbed a fistful of gulaal from the thali that he was holding and threw it on Dilip Kumar’s face with full force.
He recoiled in shock, as he seemed to be in pain, and rubbed his eyes. He stormed off. Subhash Ghai immediately shouted, ‘Lights off!’ Raaj Kumar, who stood there exclaimed, ‘Pack up!’ There was no way Dilip saab was coming back to the set again,” narrated Prashant, who was last seen in Netflix’s Mai.
Adding some more context, he said, “There was constant friction between the two actors and it was a crazy feeling because you’re in the middle of these two actors.
For the unversed, the famous rivalry started when Raaj Kumar slapped Dilip too hard while shooting a scene for Ramanand Sagar’s 1959 film Paigham.
This incident led to a rift between the two actors, and Dilip decided never to work with his contemporaries again. Despite their animosity, Raaj Kumar and Dilip Kumar delivered powerful performances in Saudagar, and the film went on to become a commercial success.
In the midst of an interview with a news portal recently, Subhash Ghai opened up on how he used the ‘ego massage’ technique to get them to work together.
Subhash Ghai went on to add that when he found out that Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar weren’t on good terms, he used only one formula. He would tell Dilip saab that Raaj saab was praising him, and he would tell Raaj saab that Dilip saab was praising him. So, when they came together, they’d meet with positivity, and the job would get done.
News Edit K.V.Raman
