When Dharmendra’s Love For Meena Kumari Cost Him ‘Pakeezah’ & Later Said “People Are Jealous Of Me…” While Addressing Rumours Of Him Losing Out On The Film
Did you know Dharmendra was replaced by Raaj Kumar in Pakeezah & Meena Kumari was the reason? Here's how the actor responded!
When Dharmendra Responded To The Rumours Of Getting Replaced By Raaj Kumar In Pakeezah For His Love Affair With Meena Kumari (Photo Credit: IMDb)
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There was a time when Dharmendra and Meena Kumari’s love affair used to break every news headline. Bollywood’s veteran handsome hunk Dharmendra has always been a ladies’ man, and there’s no denial in that. He was previously married to Prakash Kaur before tying the knot once again with Hema Malini.
But before falling for the Dream Girl, Dharmendra once led the headlines for his raunchy love stories and growing relationship with Meena Kumari. Both of them have worked in many films together. However, there were rumours that the actor was replaced by Raaj Kumar in Pakeezah for this reason. Read on to know more!
There were speculations that in Kamal Amrohi’s directorial Pakeezah, Dharmendra was replaced by Raaj Kumar because of his growing relationship with Meena Kumari. When Dharmendra was asked, “Kamal Amrohi did not cast you in Pakeezah because Meena Kumari was in it?” as reported in The Tribune, the actor replied, “People are jealous of me, man.”
Further talking about his love affair rumours with Meena Kumari, Dharmendra said, “I was not in love with Meena Kumari. She was a huge star and I was her fan. If you call the relationship between a fan and a star as love, then consider it as love.”
For the unversed, Pakeezah is one of the huge hits of Bollywood, which took almost 12 years to complete the shoot. The audience loved the storyline and music. Meena Kumari was the lead actress in the film, and Dharmendra was to be signed for the male lead. But their brewing relationship had cost him the movie as later it went to Raaj Kumar.
For the unversed, Dharmendra is currently basking in the glory of his recently released film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani‘s success. Well, did you know about this little throwback story? Let us know.
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