Shabana Azmi, Rajesh Khanna worked with incomplete scripts during Nasihat shoot, Kader Khan was writing in another studio: ‘We didn’t know when the second page would come’

In a recent interview, veteran actor Shabana Azmi recalled her experience of working with Rajesh Khanna in Nasihat.

New Delhi | August 7, 2025 09:32 PM IST

3 min read

Shabana Azmi recalled her experience of working with Rajesh Khanna in Nasihat

Veteran actor Shabana Azmi and late actor Rajesh Khanna collaborated on several films, including Avtaar (1983), Amar Deep (1979), and the 1986 action drama Nasihat. In a recent interview, Shabana shared an anecdote from the sets of Nasihat that highlighted the stark contrast between working in mainstream commercial cinema and the more structured world of parallel cinema.

In a recent interview with Chanda Kochhar, Shabana Azmi opened up about her film Nasihat and said, “There was a time when Rajesh Khanna and I were working in a film and we were doing the first page of a scene, and we didn’t know when the second page would come. Because it was being written by Kader Khan in another studio. He was an actor, but he was also writing this. So, when that page would come, then we’d know where it’s going.”

She further recalled how parallel cinema required a complete script because of the small budgets. “A lot has changed. But, I had got a taste of this even earlier while working in Shyam Benegal’s films – films that are referred to as art cinema or parallel cinema. Their budgets were so small that they had to have a complete script. They couldn’t just go along ki ab paisa milega, ab karo. They had to be prepared about everything. So, that has helped me,” the 74-year-old added.

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In a 2024 interview with Radio Nasha Official, Shabana Azmi spoke about shooting the song “Chalo, Bulaawa Aaya Hai, Maata Ne Bulaaya Hai” from her film Avtaar with Rajesh Khanna. “Shooting for ‘Chalo Bulaawa Aaya Hai’ for Avtaar was filled with hardships. During those days, there were no helicopter services, we had to trek to reach the temple. There were no toilets on the way. It was an extremely difficult situation,” she said.

The actor continued, “Can you imagine Rajesh Khanna, a superstar, standing in queue with Dalda dabbas? It was also extremely cold at that time. We used to sleep on floors in dharamshalas. We had mattresses with about 12 layers of blankets. We used six layers of blanket to cover ourselves, and we were still cold. At that point in time, Rajesh Khanna couldn’t be like ‘I am a superstar’. We all did it in the spirit.”

On the work front, Shabana Azmi was last seen in the Netflix web series Dabba Cartel and will next appear in the film Lahore 1947.

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