Parveen Babi was crying when asked to exit Amitabh Bachchan’s Silsila, was replaced by Jaya Bachchan, recalls Ranjeet: ‘They changed the cast for controversy’

“She (Parveen Babi) was my dear friend… she was all alone. She was a beautiful lady. Always smiling and we used to call her ‘fawada‘ because of her teeth… Once she was very upset and she was crying. I asked her ‘Kya hua Parveen? (What happened Parveen?)’ We were in Kashmir. I don’t mind quoting because it’s a fact. A film was made, Silsila, and Parveen Babi was the original heroine but she was asked to leave. And because of a gimmick controversy, they cast Rekha and Jaya Bhaduri in the film otherwise it was Parveen and Rekha.”

The Prem Pratigyaa actor also talked about his friendly bond with the late actor Sanjeev Kumar and said that they used to meet every evening.

“He used to live in Pali Hill…every person has a spending threshold, I want this thing but can’t afford it, still, I would take it even if have to take the loan… he was not like that. He didn’t want to…his father died, his brother died, so many people died, you know. Wo to destiny hoti hai,” Ranjeet said. He also said that the film industry has lost many iconic actors who shaped the Hindi cinema.

“Many actors have gone. Shashi Kapoor, I used to work with all these guys. Dutt sahib, Raaj Kumar, Rajesh Khanna. Every day we were together. Char-panch hero hote the, char-panch villain hote the (there were four-five heroes and four-five villians)”.

Gopal Bedi, popularly known by his screen name Ranjeet, carved a niche for himself in the film industry and became one of the most popular villains of all time.

Born in September 1941, Ranjeet has been part of several films and TV shows. His memorable movies include Raampur Ka Lakshman, Victoria No. 203, Dharam-Veer and Amar Akbar Anthony.