Rajeev Khandelwal reacts to his 'Salaam Venky' character being compared to Amitabh Bachchan from 'Anand'

Rajeev Khandelwal is still known as a heartthrob for the popularity he has among women. The actor has gotten a lot of critical acclaim for his performance in movies like 'Aamir', 'Shaitaan' and 'Table No 21'. Rajeev will now be seen next in 'Salaam Venky' which stars Kajol. While Kajol plays a mother to Vishal Jethwa (Venky) who is terminally ill and going to die, Rajeev plays his doctor in the film.

The film is based on a true incident and the real life Venkatesh (Venky) was high on life and always positive. His favourite film was 'Anand' and hence the famous Rajesh Khanna dialogue, 'Zindagi lambi nahi, badi honi chahiye', is also used in the film.
Since Rajeev plays Venky's doctor, comparisons with the legendary Amitabh Bachchan have already started. But the actor steered clear on that and said, "There's no connection of my character to that of Mr. Bachchan's character in 'Anand'. Also, the relationship of my character with my patient Venky is no where close to that of Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan's relationship in the film."

He laughed and further added, "There's a possibility that you might see the film, like my performance and then compare it to Mr. Bachchan's performance in 'Anand'. But there's no connection or similarity between the characters."

Director Revathy further affirmed that there's no similarity between both the films. "'Anand' was on my mind a lot during the making of the film. The real Venkatesh, was an avid film watcher. His mother said that his favourite film was 'Anand' so it was important for us that there are moments of the reality which come out. So, we thank the makers of 'Anand' for that dialogue and the way Rajesh Khanna ji said the dialogue," expressed Revathy.

'Salaam Venky' is set to release on December 9.

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