Rajesh Khanna, the first superstar of Hindi cinema, was also fondly known as Kaka by his fans. The actor who delivered 17 superhit movies back-to-back once got a beating from actor Mehmood. This happened when they worked together on a project.
What exactly happened?
The Gautam Chintamani-penned biography, Dark Star: The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna, has the episode mentioned in it. The book has addressed the infamous Mehmood-Khanna controversy. According to it, in the mid-1970s, Mehmood approached Rajesh Khanna for a special appearance in ‘Ginny and Johnny.’ The former loved the way the superstar treated him.
As per the biography, they both agreed to shoot the very next day and got it done, without the megastar throwing any tantrums at all. Khanna even denied taking the fees for the cameo.
However, Mehmood’s experience of working with the actor for the long term was not good. As per the book, the legendary comedian recalled, “I had worked with stars much bigger than Rajesh Khanna.”
Rajesh Khanna gets a beating from Mehmood
In the same book, it was revealed that Mehmood got frustrated with Rajesh Khanna before the film could be finished. Excerpts from the book read that Mehmood even “beat up” Khanna.
The biography also mentioned that Mehmood later stated that Khanna’s downfall was not only because of the attitude but also due to the company he kept.