Rajesh Khanna gifted bungalows, cars to his friends; partied till dawn, recalls Raza Murad: ‘He would come for shoot by 3-4 pm’

Raza shared every day after work, there would be a party at Rajesh’s house and he would not let his friends leave until he was done for the day. “Every single day, there was a ‘mehfil’ at his house, and his friends would come. The friends would come when they wanted but they could leave only when he wanted. Parties would go on all night. Dinner was served at 5 am. He went to bed at 6 am and woke up at 1-2 pm, then he would come on set by 3-4 pm,” he shared.

ALSO READ | Junaid Khan would have been a better choice than dad Aamir Khan in Laal Singh Chaddha, says Mansoor: ‘Kya bakwaas hai ki opening nahi milegi’

Rajesh Khanna was notorious for causing delays on set. In an earlier interview with Bollywood Bubble, Prem Chopra shared, “People were very fond of him because he was a very nice actor but there was something about him that some people didn’t like. If it was a 9 am shift, he would show up at 12-12:30 pm.” He added, “Everyone would be ready and in his absence, they would say ‘look how everyone is ready and waiting for him’ (said with disdain) but when he would arrive, they would say ‘Come sir, should we start after lunch?’ He would say ‘let’s do it now’,”

Sharing in the audio book Rajesh Khanna: Ek Tanha Sitara, Sharmila said, “Mujh par kaka (Rajesh Khanna) ki jo baat asar karti thi, vo thi unke kaam par der pahuchne ki aadat. Kyunki 9 baje ki shift ke liye Kaka kabhi bhi 12 baje se pehle nahi pahuchte the. Iss liye maine anya abhinetaon ke saath kaam karne ka faisla kiya, bawajood iske ki humari jodi bohot safal hui thi. (One thing that affected me the most about Kaka was his non punctual attitude. For a 9 am shift, Kaka never reached before 12 pm. And that’s why I decided to work with other actors despite knowing that our pairing was quite successful.)”