Veteran star Rekha has delivered some of the best films of Bollywood. With her charm, grace, and acting prowess, she has time and again dominated the screens. During her legendary career, she was one of the highest-paid and top-most actresses. In a recent interaction, actor-turned-filmmaker Ranjeet revealed singing the diva for a project. However, he had to ask her to return the signing amount after being frustrated with her tantrums.
In an interview with Vickey Lalwani, Ranjeet revealed his short stint with Rekha. “I didn’t sign films for almost a decade. I used to get frustrated. When I started to make films, irrespective of the bond I shared with the actors, I would pay them for their work. Although they used to hesitate to take money from me, I would insist. Similarly, I told Rekha too, that you are my friend and everything but if I am signing you for a film, I want you to quote me an amount and I will pay you and she did. Later, I realised that someone else who also signed her for one of their films was paying her Rs 5 lakh less than what she had quoted to me.”
However, this wasn’t all. “I knew she would make producers line up outside her house and wouldn’t meet them. When I was narrating the story to her, I had my whole team waiting outside, she didn’t let them in. I talked to her about it. But she said, ‘Let them all wait outside’. Only Farzana would go take messages from them and convey it to her. She wouldn’t meet anybody.”
Ranjeet revealed that after signing the film, Rekha refused to shoot during the evening. “She was doing a film at that time so she told me we will do day for night shoot. I brutally told her, I am making this film for me and not you. I realised that she would soon treat me like the other producers. So, before she could get to that point, I politely asked her to return my signing amount. I said, ‘Rekha, please return me my money. I can’t make this picture with you.’ It all happened on a friendly note.”
Talking about the issue, he revealed that veteran star Amitabh Bachchan was the reason behind her tantrums. “The reason was that she was not on good terms with Amitabh Bachchan, later they got back to being friends. Then she wanted to stay back in Mumbai. But I wanted to shoot at the farm, which was out of Bombay. She wanted to return home in the evenings, but my songs were scheduled for evenings. She said, ‘Let’s shoot this at day, I want to return home at night'”. Ranjeet added, “She also had issues with the choreographer. She said she was not comfortable with him. We changed that too. She had a lot of tantrums.”
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In his directorial career, Ranjeet helmed only two films. These included ‘Kaarnama’ (1990) and ‘Ghazab Tamasha’ (1992). He was also the producer of the latter.