Salman Khan offered to work for free to buy Rajesh Khanna’s bungalow, he claimed betrayal: ‘Mujhe sadak par lana chata hai”

The book details how Khanna would make producers wait in his ‘durbar’ at the bungalow. The actor behaved like a monarch in his own home, sitting on a chair placed on a slightly higher platform than his guests. “Khanna made tens of producers wait endlessly outside the fabled durbar, granting audience only once they had done time. He would emerge in his famous silk lungi-kurta and take his position at a chair that was conspicuously placed a little higher than the others to differentiate between the king and his subjects.”

‘Copious amounts of whisky would flow endlessly at his bungalow’

Gautam also wrote that only a select few had access to the inner sanctum of Aashirwad, while those close to Kaka enjoyed nights of endless revelry. “Only a select had access to the inner sanctum, and many a times, those waiting outside would tell the ones who passed by to put in a good word… Inside, copious amounts of whisky would flow endlessly through the night and those present would sing praises of King Kaka…”

Rajesh Khanna’s bungalow Aashirwad. (Express archive photo by Mukesh Parpiani)

Rajesh Khanna was impatient with his naysayers

The writer further revealed that Rajesh Khanna was not tolerant of criticism or dissent. “Those who didn’t agree with him or presented a somewhat contrarian point of view even for the sake of argument, were often shown the door. The manner in which Khanna supposedly banished people from his court was nothing less than high theatrics; he would weigh the words that didn’t meet his approval and proclaim, ‘Aapko humara durbar chhodna padega’.”

Rajesh Khanna’s finances went from bad to worse

However, like his meteoric rise, Rajesh Khanna’s fall was equally steep. His stardom came under threat with the release of Zanjeer in 1973, which marked Amitabh Bachchan’s arrival as the new angry young man of Hindi cinema. With films like Sholay and Deewar, Bachchan eventually overtook Khanna’s stardom. Rajesh attempted to resurrect his career, but he could never reclaim the level of fame or financial affluence he once enjoyed.

His later years were marked by financial strain, and rumours began circulating that the actor was looking to sell his iconic bungalow, Aashirwad. This was the time when Salman Khan’s brother, Sohail Khan, reportedly expressed interest in buying Kaka’s beloved home — a suggestion that was met with fierce resistance.

In the book, Gautam describes how Khanna’s finances deteriorated rapidly. “For a better part of the early years of the first decade of the new millennium, troubled clouds had taken over almost every small pocket of sunshine in Khanna’s life. His financial state went from bad to worse and there were murmurs that he was finally on the lookout to sell Aashirwad.”

The book also mentions that Khanna received a notice from the Income Tax department demanding unpaid dues of “over a crore and a half rupees”, which further dented his credibility.

Salman Khan’s brother Sohail Khan wanted to buy Rajesh Khanna’s bungalow Aashirwad. (Pic: Express Archive, Salman/Instagram)

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Sohail Khan wanted to buy the bungalow, Salman Khan offered to work for free

According to the book, Salman Khan had called screenwriter Rumi Jaffery to convey that his younger brother Sohail was interested in buying the bungalow. The Khan family reportedly made several lucrative offers to Rajesh Khanna to acquire the property, including settling his Income Tax dues. Salman was keen for the deal to go through and even offered to act in a Rajesh Khanna production free of cost.

‘Tu mujhe sadak par lana chahta hai’

However, when Rumi Jaffery conveyed the offer to Khanna, his reaction was described as that of a wounded lion. Recalling the incident in the book, Jaffery said, “When Khanna finally spoke, he asked him how he could even think of suggesting such a thing and accused him of stabbing him in his back. ‘Kakaji said, “I consider you a son-in-law aur tu mera ghar bikwana chahta hai… Sadak par lana chahta hai!” I had a tough time explaining that I was merely a postman delivering Sohail Khan’s message.’” The book also states that Rajesh Khanna later ‘scolded’ Sohail Khan when he met him years later for wanting to buy his bungalow.

It further notes how Khanna would often muse that one day he would die, but Aashirwad would live on forever — and until then, the world would never forget Rajesh Khanna. Ironically, the actor died alone in the bungalow, and years later, his beloved Aashirwad was demolished to make way for a high-rise building.