Film-maker Ketan Anandson of the late Chetan Anandrecently reflected on how superstardom is often a burden rather than a blessing. Using Rajesh KhannaAs a career example, Ketan talked about how his father believed that success is much more difficult to navigate than failure.Speaking on the Unheard Tales podcast, Ketan said: “Look what happened to Rajesh Khanna. He would have been a complete legend in his time, he was for a few years. His first film was Aakhri Khat, with my father. He was breaking up with my father. My father always wanted new people.”
“I don’t work with stars, I work with actors”
Ketan recalled that when Rajesh Khanna became a superstar, Chetan Anand made a conscious decision not to work with him despite being repeatedly questioned about the decision.“When he became a big hit, dad didn’t work with him. People would come to him and say, ‘Aapka hero hai, aap uske saath kaam kyun nahi karte?’
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The reunion that led to Kudrat
Years later, after experiencing both the rise and fall of superstardom, Rajesh Khanna did return to work with Chetan Anand. The result of their reunion was the film “Kudrat”, which later received wide recognition and is still considered one of the best joint works. “And he came back at the end of his career. They did a film together called Kudrat. What a beautiful film it was,” Ketan added.
