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Anupam Kher pays Mahesh Bhatt Rs 25,000 for every film he does, says it’s a ‘ritual’: ‘Started with Rs 250, he says there’s inflation’
Anupam Kher shared that he continues to honour Mahesh Bhatt after every film he does as an actor, as he was the first director who gave him a break.
Mahesh Bhatt and Anupam Kher first worked together on Saaransh. (Photo: Express Archives)
Anupam Kher made his debut in the movies back in the 1980s with Mahesh Bhatt’s film Saaransh. And in a recent interview, Anupam revealed that he continues to pay his dues to the director for giving him his first break. Anupam shared that after every film that he does, he gives Rs 25,000 to Mahesh, and revealed that they started this ritual back in the day with just Rs 500, which has now increased to Rs 25,000.
Anupam, in a chat with Pinkvilla, was also asked if he would want to work in a remake of any of his 550 films and the actor said that if given a choice, he would like to do an action version of Saaransh. “I want to do Saaransh 2 as an action actor. I spoke to Mahesh Bhatt a month ago. I told him Bhatt saab, ‘I really want to do action because I am working on myself’. I do display my body at the risk of being laughed at. I feel very happy about it. I would want my character to save people via action. Like in Taken, so I want to do something like that,” he said.
Anupam then recalled how he first started honouring his ‘guru’ Mahesh Bhatt in his early days and shared, “He gave me my first break so back then I would give him Rs 250 for every film. Now it’s Rs 25,000. He says this is the result of inflation. It went from Rs 250 to Rs 500 to Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 and now is Rs 25,000. I just gave him an envelope last week. Now he just holds the envelope and he knows how much is in it. But I really like it. It’s more of a ritual than anything else. It’s a comedy.”
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Anupam Kher had previously shared that when Mahesh Bhatt decided to recast him in Saaransh, and cast Sanjeev Kumar in his place, he “cursed” the director. In an earlier chat with ANI, he had shared that he had been rehearsing for his part for months when he got to know, just days prior to the shoot, that he was going to be replaced by Sanjeev Kumar. This news broke Anupam, and he decided to leave the city of Mumbai, with all his belongings. But, before he left, he paid a visit to Mahesh Bhatt.
“I took the cab to his house, and I walked up the stairs. He praised me for taking the news sportingly, but I told him to look out of his window and see the car that was standing there. It had all my belongings, and I told him that before leaving, I wanted to tell him what a fraud he is… I wanted to make final climactic statement, and I told him that as a Brahmin man, I was cursing him,” he recalled. Upon seeing his dedication, Bhatt changed his mind and decided to cast Anupam in this role.
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