In the 1981 film Naseeb, renowned filmmaker Manmohan Desai pulled off a casting coup as he signed Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, and Shatrughan Sinha in the film. The film was a blockbuster, but Rishi Kapoor was upset after it was released. He was not happy with Sinha sweeping away all the praise for the song “Rang Jamake Jayenge” when he didn’t even shoot his part in the song. Desai used Sinha’s body double for the song.
During the release of his 2018 film, 102 Not Out, Rishi, while giving a peek into the functioning of the film industry, narrated how Sinha was praised for acing the part of a Cossack dancer in the Naseeb song. He shared that the song had Bachchan playing a matador with Hema Malini, him being Charlie Chaplin and Sinha essaying a Cossack dancer.
Kapoor revealed that while everyone else was busy perfecting their steps, Sinha used to sit and relax in his chair. He told NDTV, “Poore gaane mein sab lage hue the, myself, Amit Ji, everyone was trying to perfect the steps which Kamal Ji (dance master) used to tell us and instructions of Manmohan ji and here was Shatrughan Sinha not bothered, sitting on a chair, not caring. Because of him, there were so many retakes and he could not care less.”
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After many retakes, the director, Desai, decided to call for Sinha’s body double. Kapoor revealed, “Manmohan ji got an idea and asked his assistant to tell the junior artiste supplier to look for a tall guy who can dance as that would be better. So, Sinha’s double did the song.”
While the entire cast and crew worked hard on the song, Sinha sat in a chair behind the camera and shouted in his ‘inimitable style’, “Shabaash, karo dance’,” shared an annoyed Kapoor, while adding, “The tragedy of this song is that when this song was completed and we saw it, he (Sinha) took away all the credit also. They all said, ‘Shatrughan Sinha ne kya dance kiya hai (How well Shatrughan Sinha has danced).”
In a recent interview with Zoom TV, Shatrughan Sinha addressed the complaints of Kapoor with his patent laughter. He agreed to everything that Kapoor had said and admitted that he used to avoid dance sequences as much as he could. But he could not avoid it in a Manmohan Desai film.
“During Naseeb, dance master Kamal suggested that we should make Amitabh Bachchan this, Rishi Kapoor that, and Shatrughan Sinha, a Cossack dancer. Arre yaar bhangra karna aaya nahi merko, Kathak training I left in the middle, ye toh kaise hi hoga (I couldn’t do Bhangra, left Kathak training midway at FTII, how could I do this?). A couple of places I did the shots but when it came to faster movements, Manmohan Desai understood something needs to be done,” Sinha shared.
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The veteran star also revealed that not just Naseeb, there were many retakes because of him during a dance sequence with Rekha. He narrated, “In Rampur Ka Lakshman, I had two dance sequences with Rekha. When my first shot came, I took 13 retakes. This one-take artist took 13 retakes in dance. In Buniyad also I took 13 retakes.”
However, Shatrughan Sinha gained prominence in the Hindi film industry with his baritone voice, his impeccable acting skills and his patent, ‘Khamosh’. He rose to fame with the 1970 film Khilona.
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