When Biswajit, 32, defended forcibly kissing 15-year-old Rekha on set, laughed it off when told she was left in tears
While the film got stuck with the censors, a few stills from the shoot made their way to the Asian edition of Life magazine. This included a rather titillating shot of Biswajit kissing Rekha. In her autobiography, Rekha: The Untold Story, Rekha claimed that during one of the intimate scenes, Biswajit kissed her without her consent and continued to do so for 5 minutes even as she resisted. The actor added that the entire cast and crew whistled and cheered even as she was traumatised and left in tears.
Years later, when Biswajit was asked about this incident at an event, the actor laughed off the controversy, saying the media had made a mountain out of a molehill. He said the kiss was necessary for the story, and he improvised. Biswajit maintained that he had spoken to Rekha after that and maintained cordial relations with her.
The film, directed by Kuljit Pal, was stuck with the Censor Board for almost ten years. It was revived in the late 1970s after Rekha became a star. It was retitled Do Shikaari and released in 1979. Even as it also starred Vinod Khanna and Amjad Khan, both of whom had also become big stars by the release, the film found few takers and was a box office disappointment. Rekha and Biswajit never worked together again after this film.
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