MUMBAI: At the same time, veteran actors Farida Jalal and the late Rajesh Khanna began their careers in films. After competing in the same talent show, the two were declared joint champions and offered movie roles. In a recent interview, Farida talked about her experience working on the movie Aradhana, which starred the beloved Kaka and shot him into stardom.

Rajesh and Sharmila Tagore starred in the movie, although Farida played a significant role as well. Farida claimed that Rajesh's arrogant behavior on-site even before the movie's success caused the two to argue a few times.

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“He became ‘The Rajesh Khanna’ after Aradhana. But on the set, he was already quite arrogant,” she shared with Bollywood Bubble. Farida said that she didn’t give him the star treatment on the set, which perhaps offended him a little bit. “I didn’t give him as much attention, so he got annoyed with me. I was in my own world. He was a little annoyed with that,” she said, while also mentioning that he had a really excellent performance in the movie.

She then recalled that Sharmila Tagore was quite protective of her on the set as she was a newcomer, and her support came in handy when she had a fight with Rajesh. “I would think this man is very proud, very arrogant. When I would ask for rehearsal, he would say ‘How many rehearsals?’ I was a newcomer. I felt very bad. I even said ‘How can you talk to me like that? I can ask for 10 rehearsals if I want’. We fought there, Sharmila ji intervened. She protected me, she would speak in my defence,” she recalled.

Aradhana was a huge hit, running for months in theatres. She and Kaka got to know each other during the post-release tour, which was held in every location where the film completed its 75-week run and the cast was being honored.

Farida recalled how his stardom had affected her, saying that she would truly feel "disgust" when she saw ladies falling at his feet.

“I would see how people would go mad for him. Girls would fall at his feet. They would ask him to sign on their arm, and face. I used to feel disgusted looking at that. He would proudly look at me and say ‘Dekha?’ I would think I worked with him but I don’t feel this way, what is wrong with them? I have never seen this kind of stardom,” she added.

Heeramandi, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, starred Farida Jalal most recently.

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Credits – The Indian Express