When Rajesh Khanna took a dig at Amitabh Bachchan for dancing in a saree in ‘Mere Angne Mein’: ‘I will never compromise on my dignity’

Rajesh Khanna did not appreciate Amitabh Bachchan wearing a saree and dancing to 'Mere Angne Mein' in Laawaris. The two were arch rivals in the 70s.

amitabh bachchan throwback rajesh khanna

Amitabh Bachchan appeared in a saree in 'Mere Angne Mein'.

Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan were arch rivals in the 1970s. Amitabh was the bright new superstar who had had a string of successful films as the ‘Angry Young Man’ and Kaka, as Rajesh was popularly known, was trying to hold on to his position of the man with a Midas touch. In the 1980s, Rajesh’s career was on a decline but Amitabh’s career was reaching heights. It was in this phase that Amitabh’s Laawaris released and the film’s song ‘Mere Angne Mein’ became a fan favourite but Rajesh did not approve of the song.

The song ‘Mere Angne Mein’ saw Amitabh dressed in a saree and dancing to his own vocals. But Rajesh did not find this performance dignified. As quoted by Yasser Usman in his book Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India’s First Superstar, Rajesh told a film magazine in 1982, “I will never compromise on my dignity and don a saree and do a ‘Mere Angane Mein’ for all the money and all the applause in the world.”

Laawaris, starring Bachchan and Zeenat Aman, directed by Prakash Mehra was one of the biggest hits of 1981. Kaalia, Yaarana and Naseeb which also starred Bachchan, released in the same year and also were big hits, making him the most successful star of the year. Rajesh, on the contrary, starred in Kudrat, which did well but was nowhere close to the success that Bachchan’s film received that year. His next hit, Avatar, released in 1983.

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Amitabh and Rajesh first shared screen space in Anand. This was way before Amitabh tasted stardom, and Rajesh was at the peak of his career. However, a few year later, when they starred in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Namak Haraam, it looked like Rajesh was passing the baton of his stardom to Amitabh. “When I saw Namak Haram at a trial at Liberty cinema. I knew my time was up. I told Hrishida, ‘Here is the superstar of tomorrow’,” said Rajesh Khanna in an interview with Movie magazine.

After Namak Haraam, the two never starred together in any feature films.

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