In Yasser Usman’s biography Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India’s First Superstar, the one revelation that stands out is about the 1973 film Namak Haraam, that stars India’s first superstar and Amitabh Bachchan. In it, veteran writer Gulzar also made some revelations. It has to do with a death scene in the climax.
Gulzar revealed, “In Namak Haraam, we had to change the end because Hrishikesh Mukherjee had promised Rajesh Khanna the death scene. In Hindi films, the one who dies is considered a hero, so both were keen on being heroic. It was only on the day of the shooting that Amitabh finally learnt the truth. He was crestfallen. He was so hurt that he didn’t speak to me for several days. He felt I had betrayed him,” Gulzar shared.
Rajesh Khanna’s associate on the impact of the betrayal
Prashant Roy said, “Those days, Kakaji used to be very angry with Amitabh Bachchan. He used to tell his close friends that Hrishikesh Mukherjee is his favourite director, but Amitabh has filled his ears. Kakaji used to say that during the entire shooting of Namak Haraam, Amitabh played dirty politics with him. During my 20 years working with Kakaji, I never saw Amitabh coming to Aashirwaad.”
Amitabh Bachchan is one of the most influential personalities in the country who has a staggering net worth, and the worth of his property has been reported to be around Rs 3160 crore. According to a report by ABP Live, the actor once said he’d equally divide his entire property between his son Abhishek Bachchan & daughter Shweta Bachchan Nanda. Both the children are likely to get Rs 1600 crore each.
Where the ‘Refugee’ actor has a reported net worth of Rs 280 crore, Shweta’s estimated net worth is around Rs 110 crore.