Shashi Kapoor was tagged the ‘taxi actor’, Rishi Kapoor refused remuneration but on one condition: Tinnu Anand recalls getting ‘nervous attacks’ | Bollywood News
Shashi Kapoor was tagged the ‘taxi actor’, Rishi Kapoor refused remuneration but on one condition: Tinnu Anand recalls getting ‘nervous attacks’ | Bollywood News
Back in the 1970s, actor-director Tinnu Anand had ‘nervous attacks’ because of Rishi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor, while directing the film Duniya Meri Jeb Mein. The two actors, who played brothers in the film, were never present on set at the same time. In a recent interview, Anand narrated why it took him five years to complete the film. He also revealed why Shashi Kapoor got tagged as a ‘taxi’ actor.
In a recent interview with News18, Anand shared that when he cast Shashi in his film, the actor decided to give him only two hours per day as he was working five shifts a day. He said, “The tragedy in that film was Shashi was already given the title of ‘Taxi actor’ by Raj Kapoor, ‘Taxi hai Shashi’. He did five shifts in a day but he didn’t give me more than two hours. He used to come at 7 and by 9.30, he will pack up and leave for his next shift. One of the five shifts he used to do.”
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While one of his lead actors used to leave by 9, the other wouldn’t come before 10.30. Tinnu Anand shared that Rishi Kapoor agreed to do the film for free as he was close friends with his brother Bittu Anand, the producer of the film.
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“Rishi Kapoor is great friends with my brother. My brother started the production Duniya Meri Jeb Mein and Rishi said, ‘I will not take any money from you.’ At that time, when you are breaking into films as a producer, your main worry is paying your actor and Rishi had said, ‘Not a penny, don’t talk to me about money. I will walk out of your film otherwise.’ That was a great relief for my brother,” narrated Anand.
But then, Rishi Kapoor came up with a condition. He said, “I will not come before 10.30 because I am a late riser.” This left the filmmaker nervous. “They play brothers in my film (Shashi and Rishi Kapoor). One comes at 7 and leaves at 9 and the other… that film took me five years to complete,” he said.
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It was action director Veeru Devgan who comforted Anand by advising him to shoot with a duplicate of Rishi Kapoor for scenes with Shashi Kapoor. “I am very lucky I had Veeru Devgan because I was having nervous attacks. How will I manage a scene? Veeru came to know about it and he came to me and said, ‘Tinnu don’t worry. We will take the shots with the duplicate and edit them later. It’s all about editing.’ I came from a school where actors sat on a bench and waited for their scene. They hardly spent any time in their makeup rooms and here I was, working with the actors who were not even present at the same time. But then I learnt that craft,” shared Anand, who was recently seen in Prashanth Neel’s Salaar.
After directorial debut with Duniya Meri Jeb Mein (1979), Tinnu Anand delivered superhits Kaalia and Shahenshah starring Amitabh Bachchan. He also directed the actor in the 1998 film Major Saab.
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