After Esmayeel Shroff’s Thodisi Bewafaai in 1980 became the surprise hit of the year, the director signed the pair Rajesh Khanna and Shabana Azmi for another film called Pighalta Aasman.
No one knows what really went wrong. But after a few days of shooting, both Shabana and Rajesh decided to opt out , leaving the project high and dry . Pighalta Aasman would have been shelved were it not for Shashi Kapoor and Raakhee Gulzar who sportingly stepped in at the eleventh hour and rescued the project.
Shabana and Rajesh Khanna went on to do several films together. Among them. Mohan Kumar Avtaar and the 1979 superhit Amar Deep . They also worked together in Aaj Ka MLA Ram Avtar
Shabana recalls how much fun they had shooting these films together. “Kaka(Rajesh Khanna) got along fine. He was known to be moody . But I never saw that side of him. With me he was always chilled out. Very protective,very gentlemanly had long discussion on commercial cinema versus the parallel cinema. We shot some important films together , important for me as they established me as a commercially successful actress.”
Many years passed and Shabana and Rajesh lost touch. They met again when he was seriously ailing. Excited as a school girl , Shabana rushed towards her Kaka to hug and greet him. It took her a while to know that he didn’t recognize her.Rather than embarrass him Shabana quickly re-introduced herself to the superstar with whom she had worked in numerous films.
It was a very sad moment for Shabana. A rude and brutal reminder of mortality.
