Rekha refused to shoot in the evening because of Amitabh Bachchan, had tantrums: Ranjeet recalls working with her

Bollywood veteran Ranjeet opened up about working with Rekha and revealed how it did not go as planned. He shared that Rekha’s tantrums eventually made him to ask for the signing amount back.

Ranjeet on Rekha overcharging him

In an interview with Vicky Lalwani, Ranjeet remembered the time when he was not happy with the roles he was being offered. He said he decided to make his own film. “When I started to make films, irrespective of the bond I shared with the actors, I would pay them for their work.” "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 realised that someone else who also signed her for one of their films were paying her ₹5 lakh less than what she had quoted to me.”

Ranjeet: Rekha make producers line up outside her house

He claimed that Rekha over-charging him was only the tip of the iceberg. "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 (Rekha's secretary-cum-manager) would go take messages from them and convey it to her, she wouldn’t meet anybody.

"She was doing a film at this time so she told me we will do day for night shoot. I brutally told her, I am making this film for me and not you. I realised 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 me my money, I can’t make this picture with you.’ It all happened on a friendly note.”

Rekha was not on good terms with Amitabh Bachchan: Ranjeet

Ranjeet revealed the reason why Rekha refused to shoot in the evening. He claimed that she wanted to return home in the evening because of Amitabh Bachchan. “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 at day, I want to return home at night’. She also had issues with choreographer, she said she was not comfortable with him. We changed that too. She had a lot of tantrums,” the actor-turned-filmmaker added.

He revealed that although he is still friends with Rekha, they never worked together for any of his films.

Who is Ranjeet?

Ranjeet is best known for playing negative roles in Bollywood films. He made his directorial debut and made two films-- Kaarnama (1990) and Ghazab Tamasha (1992).