Sharmila Tagore Says She Would Be “Sued In Today’s Time” For The Way She Shot Aradhana’s Mere Sapno Ki Rani, Blames Rajesh Khanna For It Saying, “His Dates Were Impossible To Get”
Sharmila Tagore recently opened up about the shoot of Aradhana’s Mere Sapno Ki Rani, blaming Rajesh Khanna’s popularity. Read!
Sharmila Tagore Recalls It Being Impossible To Get Rajesh Khanna’s To Shoot Aradhana’s Mere Sapno Ki Rani, Recalls Compromising Filming Saying, “I Would Have Been Sued In Today’s Time” ( Photo Credit – Wikipedia ; IMDb )
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Sharmila Tagore is a famous Bollywood actress who is now enjoying her second innings in the entertainment world. The veteran actress – who made her acting debut at age 14 in Satyajit Ray’s Bengali drama The World of Apu, has starred in several hit films, including Devi, Aranyer Din Ratri, Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Chupke Chupke, Aradhana and more.
The actress – who has shared screen space with actors like Rajesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor, and more, recently opened up about working with Kaka and shooting Mere Sapno Ki Rani with him.
As reported by Indian Express, during a recent interview on the Quorum YouTube channel, Sharmila Tagore got candid about how difficult it was to get Rajesh Khanna’s dates during the peak of his career. While talking about it, the veteran actress recalled the time she was offered Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri after she had already signed Shakti Samanta’s Aradhana, co-starring Kaka.
While recalling working on the two above mentioned films simultaneously, Sharmila Tagore said, “When I was working in Aradhana – it was taking a couple of years to be made – Manik da called me and offered me the role in Aranyer Din Ratri. It required one month at a stretch, and that was clashing with ‘Sapno Ki Rani’ being shot in Darjeeling. Rajesh Khanna’s dates were impossible to get because he was working with 12 producers who had introduced him.”
The actress revealed that when she told the director of the 1969 romantic comedy that she was going to accept Ray’s offer, the filmmaker ‘pull his hair out’. Recalling how she finally shot for Mere Sapno Ki Rani, Sharmila Tagore said, “Kaka’s scenes with Sujit Kumar were shot in Darjeeling, and my scenes were shot in the studios, with rear projection. That was a huge compromise, and I think I would have been sued in today’s time. But because Aradhana became such a huge success, everything was forgiven, and I was repeated in his (Samanta’s) later films.”
While Aradhana is regarded as a cult film in India, the veteran actress revealed that Aranyer Din Ratri gained international acclaim and is still well-regarded in France.
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