Hema Malini recalls being stuck on a ropeway with Dev Anand, had to sit in his lap while it was fixed: ‘Very embarrassing’

“There was a scene where we were supposed to go in the rope chair. The sequence was such that he is sitting already and I have to sit in another chair but because I miss it, he makes me sit on his lap. That was very embarrassing for me, in real life also, and in the film also I am feeling very uncomfortable,” she recalled. Hema further recalled that in the middle of the shot, the power got disconnected so she was stuck with him, sitting on his lap in the rope chair.

“So the shot started and the rope chair was moving but right in the middle, it stopped. The electricity was gone. I said ‘Dev saab, I can’t sit like this’. I didn’t want to put my whole weight on his lap. It was very very uncomfortable,” she recalled with a laugh. Journalist Bhawana Somaaya, who was interviewing Hema at the event, then added, “You were scared and he told you ‘don’t look down, look into my eyes’.”

Johny Mera Naam was one of the first big hits of Hema Malini. Dev Anand was already a superstar at that time.