Today Rasin shared a small anecdote which culminated in a big revelation. Khanna did not charge Hrishikesh Mukherjee for ‘Anand’.
Rasin rewinded, “It all started when Gulzar sahib went to meet Khanna at his Linking Road office. While Khanna was taking him to the lift, Gulzar told Khanna that he should meet Hrishikesh Mukherjee, whose He has a great theme to him—it’s the story of a man who embraces and celebrates life when he knows he’s not going to live long.”
And then? “Well, Khanna asked Gulzar sahib to fix his meeting with Hrishida for the next day. Gulzar came to pick up Khanna a little before 10 in the morning and both reached Hrishida’s office which was nearby.”
Rasin continued, “When Hrishida met Khanna, she told him he couldn’t pay his fees, but there’s a wonderful story if he’s interested. Khanna immediately turned around and said he wouldn’t take a penny. Hrishida said Said there should be some compensation. Khanna said that he can then give her the rights to release the film in Mumbai. They immediately shook hands, and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Rasin also surprised us by saying that Khanna started shooting for ‘Anand’ just a week after that. “He didn’t have a date for two years, but when he saw that Hrishida wanted to start it immediately, he told Hrishida that he would come every day and shoot 60-75 minutes during lunch. And fine That’s what he did till the release of the film. The shooting is over. The rest of the cast will also shoot their large-scale sequences with Khanna at lunch time.”
what to say! Rasin concluded, “My friend was Dhruv Tara. He had the DNA of a superstar, not only off-screen but also on-screen.”