When Waheeda Rehman accepted the role opposite Dev Anand in Guide, it was unconventional for that era. She portrayed a woman who abandons her husband to pursue her passion for dancing, a detour from the traditional heroine roles of the time. Consequently, many filmmakers resisted Waheeda’s decision to take on such a role. In a recent interview, the veteran actor recalled how Ram Maheshwari, the director of Neel Kamal, expressed displeasure because she chose Guide while both films were in production simultaneously.
She said the director was very upset when he found out she was playing a character who leaves her husband in the movie Guide. He felt she was ruining his film because she was also playing a different character named Sita, who is in love with her husband, in another movie called Neel Kamal. “I was shooting for both Guide and Neel Kamal around the same time. When the director got to know that I was doing Guide, he said ‘Waheeda ji you are killing me, you have destroyed me’. I said ‘I don’t get it’. He said ‘in my film, you are called Sita, who is fully in love with her husband and in Guide you are playing Rosy, who is dancer who leaves her husband. So I am destroyed’,” she recalled in a conversation with Doordarshan.
In fact, the director went as far as to advise her that if she wanted to take on such roles, she should not continue working in the Hindi film industry but consider Hollywood instead. “He said ‘you should not do these kind of films because these films don’t work in India. This works in Hollywood. If you are fond of these kind of movies, then go work in Hollywood’,” she shared.
Waheeda gave him the option of firing her because she was not interested in leaving Guide. “I said I will work in both movies. If you don’t like it, then fire me. I am not going to leave Guide. He was very upset,” she said.
Guide starred Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman in lead roles.
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