'Rekha was not on good terms with Amitabh Bachchan,’ reveals Ranjeet: 'She had a lot of tantrums'

Iconic actress Rekha, known for her brilliant acting and timeless style, has always been in the news, not just for her films but also for her personal and professional life. Ranjeet, a well-known actor from the same era, is famous for playing villains in films like Sharmeelee (1971), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), and Lawaaris (1981). He recently spoke about his experience with Rekha and how her behavior made him decide to drop her from one of his films.

At that time, Ranjeet was frustrated with the roles he was being offered and wanted to make his films. He said in an interview with Vickey Lalwani, “I didn’t sign films for almost a decade. I used to get frustrated. When I started to make films, irrespective of the bond I shared with the actors, I would pay them for their work. Although they used to hesitate to take money from me, I would insist. Similarly, I told Rekha too that you are my friend and everything, but if I am signing you for a film, I want you to quote me an amount, and I will pay you, and she did. Later, I realized that someone else who also signed her for one of their films was paying her Rs 5 lakh less than what she had quoted to me.”

See more: Ranjeet recalls ugly fight between Shatrughan Sinha and Sanjay Khan that ended in gunfire and police camping at his home: 'By evening Dilip Kumar intervened...'

That was just the beginning, he claimed. “I knew she would make producers line up outside her house and wouldn’t meet them. When I was narrating the story to her, I had my whole team waiting outside; she didn’t let them in. I talked to her about it, but she said, ‘Let them all wait outside.’ Only Farzana would go take messages from them and convey them to her; she wouldn’t meet anybody.”

The main problem arose when Rekha refused to shoot in the evenings. Ranjeet recalled, “She was doing a film at this time, so she told me we would do a day-for-night shoot. I brutally told her, I am making this film for me and not you. I realized that she would soon treat me like the other producers. So, before she could get to that point, I politely asked her to return my signing amount. I said, ‘Rekha, please return my money; I can’t take this picture with you.’ It all happened on a friendly note.”

Giving more details, he said, “The reason was that she was not on good terms with Amitabh Bachchan; later they got back to being friends. Then she wanted to stay back in Mumbai. But I wanted to shoot at the farm, which was out of Bombay. She wanted to return home in the evenings, but my songs were scheduled for evenings. She said, ‘Let’s shoot this in the day; I want to return home at night.’ She also had issues with the choreographer; she said she was not comfortable with him. We changed that too. She had a lot of tantrums.”

Although Ranjeet remained friends with Rekha, he never worked with her again to avoid professional conflicts. He went on to direct two films, ‘Kaarnama’ (1990) and ‘Ghazab Tamasha’ (1992), and produced the latter.

See more: Ranjeet recalls Madhuri Dixit sobbing after their molestation scene in Prem Pratigya: 'I never touched her'