When ​​Bollywood friendships go bad

Andaaz – 1949 (Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar)
Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar were cast to star in the same project. Directed by Mehboob Khan, this film was considered to be one of the most ambitious calls taken for a project. Two huge stars sharing screen space is not something that fans expect even today. In fact, weren’t we stunned when Karan Johar announced a collaboration between Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar? This was something similar. The industry agreed that this was a casting coup of sorts, but also wondered how successful the director might be in working with the two stars. This movie also happened to be the beginning of all the smoke between Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar over the years. According to M.L. Dhawan of Tribune, the actors used ‘every trick up their sleeve’ to show how one was better than the other. Apparently, the actor never worked together post this experience.

To pour fuel to the flames that two actors also heading opposing cricket teams in 1962, when the fraternity had come together to collect funds for drought victims in Maharashtra. Later in 1969, Raj offered Sangam to Dilip, however, the actor refused to work with him. The rumours of their rivalry was talked about a lot, but when actor Raj Kapoor passed away in 1988, Dilip apparently cried like a child. This was recorded in the ‘Substance And The Shadow’, an autobiography of Dilip Kumar, documented by Udaya Tara Nayar.

Humsaya – 1968 (Sharmila Tagore and Mala Sinha)
Sharmila Tagore and Mala Sinha were both a part of Joy Mukherjee’s film Humsaya. The two actors were so unhappy to work together on sets that it ended in a physical brawl, suggests most of the reports. Late director Joy Mukherji apparently had to intervene. It was later said that the verbal argument turned into a brawl after Mala Sinha slapped Sharmila. After this project, the two never shared screenspace in another films.

Dostana – 1980 (Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrugan Sinha)
It is said that Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrugan Sinha’s animosity took centrestage after Dostana. Before that, the two actors had acted together in movies like Bombay to Goa and Parwana. Dostana was a successful movie for both the upcoming actors. However, in Shaan Amitabh Bachchan’s role was stronger. Even after this, they worked together in Kala Pathar and Ameer Aadmi Gharib Aadmi. However, with the increasing importance given to Big B in projects, the two actors stayed away from each other’s project. In an interview, Shatrugan Sinha also confessed about this rivalry and admitted that he had to return advance for two movies that he had signed with Big B, when they were shelved. In fact, at the launch of his book “Anything But Khamosh: The Shatrughan Sinha Biography”, the actor had said that he wrote about his bittersweet relationship with the star because he wanted to be honest in his own biography. He said, “The experiences I’ve written are of our past…. If I wouldn’t have mentioned, it wouldn’t have been an honest biography. But that doesn’t mean that I have anything against him. It was our youth, we were mesmerised by stardom…We’re friends so we have the right to fight and differ too. It is democracy.”

At the same event, apparently Amitabh Bachchan was also present. According to reports in TOI, the star had said, “Shatrughan is younger to me, and I believe those who are younger have the right to say whatever they want to about the elders. If this relationship of friendship wouldn’t have been there then there would’ve been no give and take which is very necessary between friends…Getting upset, giving abuses, all these keep going on,” the 73-year-old legend said.

Well, this change seems interesting, especially after Shatrugan Sinha stated, “The problem was the applause I was getting for my performances,” he said shortly. “Amitabh could see the response I was getting. That’s why he didn’t want me in some of his films,” in his autobiography.

Andar Bahar – 1984 (Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff)
Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff have acted together in 11 films, starting from 1984 to 2001. While Anil Kapoor had mostly been a part of multi-starrer till Andar Bahar, Jackie Shroff had one hit film, which was completely on Jaggu bhai’s shoulder. The actors shot for the film, and are also known to have bonded really well on the sets. When the movie was ready for release, director Ramesh Sippy was faced with a dilemma as to which actor’s name should come first during the title credit. The ego and competition between the two actors led to the movie’s repeated delays, until the director came to a conclusion. He first suggested that both their names would appear in a single frame, which Anil Kapoor agreed to after his movie Laila tanked at the box office. But, the distributors wanted to cash in on Jackie Shroff’s rise to stardom and so they redid the banners. Jackie was highlighted in the new posters. Ramesh Sippy, fed up with all of this conflict, edited the entire title credits from the movie. This decision was what kept Anil and Jackie’s partnership intact to continue for many years to come.

Do Knot Disturb – 2009 (Govinda and David Dhawan)
Govinda and David Dhawan have worked in over 15 films together, and were even considered the best director-actor duo of the 90s. However, After Do Knot Disturb, the director has not worked with the actor at all. Interestingly, it was during this same time that Govinda and Salman Khan has also had a fall out. In an interview to TOI in 2014, the actor had confessed that he had not spoken to the director in over five years. In 2015, while the actor was promoting his film Kill Dill, he had also revealed that David Dhawan had not stood by him during a bad phase in his life. He also stated that he wouldn’t want to work with the director because of this. This rift, more like a hornet’s nest, was once again disturbed when quite recently, Varun Dhawan, David Dhawan’s son, called himself the biggest fan of Govinda, and many said that Varun was filling in for Govinda. In an interview to Firstpost, Govinda said that Varun has to be ‘innocent, uneducated village boy’ to be Govinda, and not the son of a director.

The recent fallout like that between Karan Johar and Kajol, or the one between Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover only show how much news of this kind can mar not just their image, but also the great work the duos have done together. This is true for any of the above examples, because when we read about Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff’s initial tiff, it makes us wonder. What if they hadn’t come to terms that day? As dramatic and silly as they seem, these are working relationships that have negatively or positively affected on the kind of films churned out.