Rajesh Khanna believed Amitabh Bachchan ‘played dirty politics' against him; Big B felt ‘betrayed' when Namak Haraam's climax was changed
Rajesh's character died a poetic death at the end of Anand, which convinced him that a death scene leaves an impression on the audience. So, when Namak Haraam came around, Rajesh insisted that his character should be the one who dies, despite the fact that Hrishikesh Mukherjee had other plans. Gulzar, who wrote the film, was quoted as saying in Yasser Usman's book Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India's First Superstar, 'In Namak Haraam, we had to change the end because Hrishikesh Mukherjee had promised Rajesh Khanna the death scene.'
Amitabh had no clue about this agreement, and found out about it on the day of the shoot. 'In Hindi films, the one who dies is considered a hero, so both were keen on being heroic. It was only on the day of the shooting that Amitabh finally learnt the truth. He was crestfallen. He was so hurt that he didn't speak to me for several days. He felt I had betrayed him,' he shared in the same book.
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Rajesh Khanna's secretary and associate for 20 years, Prashant Roy, said in the book, 'Those days, Kakaji used to be very angry with Amitabh Bachchan. He used to tell his close friends that Hrishikesh Mukherjee is his favourite director, but Amitabh has filled his ears. Kakaji used to say that during the entire shooting of Namak Haraam, Amitabh played dirty politics with him. During my 20 years working with Kakaji, I never saw Amitabh coming to Aashirwaad. Earlier, Hrishikesh Mukherjee used to come quite often, but after Namak Haraam, even his visits were rare,' he said.
Rajesh and Amitabh never shared the screen again. Rajesh passed away at 69 in 2012.
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