Rajesh Khanna was crowned as the first superstar of Bollywood. Back in the day, the actor delivered 17 consecutive box-office hits. However, when he was in the middle of this streak and basking in superstardom, he reportedly started signing films without reading their scripts. In the flow of things, the actor signed a film and even took a signing amount of Rs. 5 lakh cash. Later, he realised that the film was, in fact, ‘terrible’. The actor still didn’t want to back out from the film as he was promised a massive paycheck of Rs. 9 lakh. Rajesh stuck by his commitment and did the film, but only after he selected writers to rework the script.
Rajesh Khanna did a bad film because he needed the money
Yasser Usman’s book, Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India’s First Superstar, recalled the anecdote behind Rajesh Khanna not backing out from the film. The book shared that the actor was trying to buy a sea-facing bungalow named ‘Aashirwaad’. For the unversed, the bungalow belonged to the yesteryear star, Rajendra Kumar, for which Rajesh had to put together a handsome amount. This was the time when the actor was offered a film in Chennai titled, MMA Chinnappa Devar. The film was based on the story of a man and his pet elephants. The film was later renamed to Haathi Mere Saathi. The massive paycheck offered for the film was the reason why the actor said yes to the film without reading the script.
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