When Amitabh Bachchan’s mother requested Waheeda Rehman to ‘not slap him too hard’: ‘Director asked me to give Amitabh a solid whack’

Amitabh Bachchan and Waheeda Rehman have played husband and wife on screen in Kabhi Kabhie, but the duo has also played mother-son in Trishul, but way before all these films, the two shared screen space in the 1971 film Reshma aur Shera. Bachchan was still trying to make his mark in the film industry at the time and had a small supporting role in the film. While filming, there was a scene where Waheeda was supposed to slap Amitabh but his mother, Teji Bachchan, was present on set that day and requested her to not slap Amitabh too hard.

Waheeda recalled this incident in a 2002 interview with Filmfare and said, “There was a scene in the movie where I was supposed to slap Amitabh. His mother, Teji Bachchan, was on the sets and told me not to slap him too hard.” Amitabh had made his debut with Saat Hindustani and in Reshma Aur Shera, which starred Sunil Dutt and Waheeda in leading roles, Amitabh was playing a character named Chhotu. Dutt was also directing the film.

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Waheeda further recalled that Dutt had asked her to slap Bachchan tightly but with his mother around, it wasn’t possible for her to perform, so there was only one way this could be shot. “Since the director had asked me to give Amitabh one solid whack, I decided the only way out was to ask Teji to stay away from the set that day. And Amitabh got his whack all right.”

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She recalled that during the after hours of the shoot, Amitabh once brought out his dholak and sand ‘Mere Angne Mein’ which was written by Harivanshrai Bachchan. While everyone enjoyed it, Amitabh started doing it every evening. Waheeda recalled that they had to ask Amitabh to start singing something else.

Decades later, Waheeda was set to play Amitabh’s mother in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and she had even started shooting for the same. But, the death of her husband made Waheeda withdraw from the film and the role was ultimately played by Achala Sachdev.