‘I broke the mala given by Osho, threw it in the commode’: Mahesh Bhatt recounts how Rajneesh threatened to destroy him

He said that Rajneesh involved Vinod Khanna to lure him back to the fold. “Vinod called me from Filmistan and said Bhagwan is very angry. You broke the mala and threw it in the commode. I said ‘yes, I have done that. This is worthless; I am a damn fool.’ He said Bhagwan has said ask Mahesh to come back and hand over the mala in person, otherwise he said’, and Vinod lowered his voice, he will destroy you.”

“Rajneesh told Vinod that ‘I worked so hard on Mahesh but he perhaps didn’t have in him what you have.’ I said he is using you against me. he is telling you are something special; I was a nobody,” Mahesh said, adding that it never soured his relationship with Vinod Khanna.

He told Arbaaz that he had also gone to meet Rajneesh with his father, Salim Khan. “I went to meet him with your father before his show in Oregon flopped and he became Osho from Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh. I asked him if you have anything beyond words to give me. I said I am in business because people are lonely and you are in business because people are miserable. But if you have light, can you give it to me. If not, what is going on here? It was a 15-minute appointment that went on for one and a half hours. He was trying to woo me back but I was not falling for them.

“When I got to leave, I realised that he was not responsible for anything. I wanted to hear things that he told me. He was an entertainer and a wordsmith, and a very successful man. He provided a comfort to people for some time but it became a spiritual drug. I say that gurus have a role to play, like we entertainers do.”