We all know about the hardened nature of legendary Bollywood actor Raaj Kumar and his whimsical ways with filmmakers of his time. Having worked as a cop before joining films, he carried over the shrewd and no-nonsense attitude to the world of entertainment as well where other actors and filmmakers often had to bow down before his whims. One of them was when Raaj Kumar insisted on casting Hema Malini in the 1971 film Lal Patthar.
The director Sushil Majumdar’s first choice for the movie was one of the top actresses of that time Vyjayanthimala but Raaj Kumar put his foot down and insisted on working with the relatively newcomer and then unknown Hema Malini. Ultimately, the makers had to agree and Hema Malini worked in Lal Patthar. It is interesting to note that years later when Hema Malini became a big star herself, she returned the favour to Raaj Kumar.
Hema Malini worked her way up through the 70s and by the 1980s, she became one of the most popular actresses of Hindi cinema. She also became one of the highest-paid actresses in Bollywood. However, in the 80s Raaj Kumar’s age had caught up to him and his star power had also waned. Younger actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Feroze Khan and Vinod Khanna became A-listers in the industry.
Hema Malini acted in the film Ek Nayi Paheli in 1984 which also starred Kamal Haasan, Raaj Kumar and Padmini Kolkhapure in lead roles. The movie, which was a remake of the Tamil film Apoorva Raagangal, was a runaway success and according to reports, Hema Malini was instrumental in having Raaj Kumar cast in the film.
According to an IMDb report, in the initial days of the film, the first choice of the makers of the film were Dilip Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar. However, Hema Malini put up an ultimatum saying that she would only act with Raaj Kumar. When Dilip Kumar came to know of Hema Malini’s stance, he distanced himself from the project. Ultimately, the makers had to agree to Hema Malini’s stance and cast Raaj Kumar in the film.
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