Looking back: Rajesh Khanna reduced his fees to 50 percent when his stardom was fading

Looking back: Rajesh Khanna reduced his fees to 50 percent when his stardom was fading

Inarguably, Rajesh Khanna was one of the most dynamic actors in Indian cinema. He enjoyed a superhit acting career that spanned over many years and left an indelible mark in Bollywood.

At one point in time, when Rajesh Khanna’s stardom faded away, he reportedly decided to charge half of what he used to charge originally as his acting fee in films. One of those films, for which he charged less fee,
Is the 1990 hit Swarg directed by David Dhawan.

Actor Arun Bakshi, the assistant director of this film, shared information regarding this incident in an interview. As per Arun, Kaka’s (as Rajesh Khanna was popularly known) career was going through troubled waters amidst the shoot of Swarg. Many of Rajesh Khanna’s films flopped at the box office. Arun feels that perhaps this was the reason why David Dhawan didn’t have to put in a lot of effort to convince him to act in Swarg. Kaka immediately agreed to play the role of Kumar in this film and charged half of his remuneration.

Swarg boasted an ensemble cast featuring Govinda, Juhi Chawla, Raja Bundela, Mahesh Anand and others. It turned out to be the first hit collaboration of Govinda with the filmmaker David Dhawan and his last with the Aradhana actor. The shooting of this film was wrapped up in 6 months.

On May 2, Swarg clocked 34 years of its release. The film’s writer, Anees Bazmee, shared some throwback pictures from the sets. In the first photo, Bazmee sat with the director, David Dhawan. In the other picture, Bazmee can be seen enjoying a conversation with David and Rajesh Khanna.

Bazmee while sharing the pictures caption it
“Celebrating 34 years of ‘Swarg’ This was the start to a superhit trio of govinda hero no1 David Dhawan and Arun. He is thankful for this incredible collaboration which led to many big entertaining films. A very enjoyable journey.

News Edit K.V.Raman