Just
when
Amitabh
Bachchan
was
making
a
foothold
in
Bollywood,
Rajesh
Khanna,
already
a
superstar,
had
sneered
at
the
angry
young
man's
punctuality,
calling
it
a
clerical
trait,
a
new
book
has
revealed.
While
Khanna
was
known
for
throwing
tantrums
and
coming
late
for
shoots,
Bachchan
was
getting
appreciated
by
the
film
fraternity
for
being
very
professional
and
punctual.
According
to
"Excellence
-
The
Amitabh
Bachchan
Way" by
Virender
Kapoor,
Rajesh
Khanna
didn't
react
well
to
this.
"He
apparently
said
in
an
interview
that
he
believed
that
clerks
were
punctual
and
that
he
was
not
a
clerk,
but
an
artist," says
the
book.
During
this
time,
Bachchan
was
still
emerging
as
a
star
and
had
just
begun
receiving
appreciation
from
the
public.
"Bragging
about
his
position,
he
added
that
he
was
not
a
slave
of
his
moods
but
instead,
his
moods
were
his
slaves," it
adds.
Bachchan,
however,
not
just
remained
respectful
to
Khanna
but
also
admitted
that
the
latter
would
always
be
the
only
superstar
for
him.
Bachchan
was
highly
impressed
by
the
fact
that
the
late
actor
had
appeared
in
153
films
by
1991,
in
a
span
of
25
years
which
included
101
solo
and
21
multi-star-cast
films.
He
was
in
awe
of
Khanna's
immense
hard
work
and
respected
that
despite
having
three
films
releasing
every
year,
he
had
managed
to
give
95
jubilee
hits.
But
later,
in
a
way,
he
replaced
Khanna
becoming
the
'Angry
Young
Man
of
Bollywood'.
"In
an
interview,
however,
Bachchan
confessed
that
he
had
never
expected
to
play
lead
roles.
He
always
thought
he
was
not
conventionally
good-looking
and
felt
that
he
would
never
look
as
good
as
Rajesh
Khanna,"
the
book
says.
The
book
reveals
Bachchan,
seeing
Khanna's
photos
in
Filmfare,
often
wondered
"'Yaar,
ye
aadmi
kya
khaata
hai?
Iske
gaal
itne
lal
kaise
hain?'
(What
does
this
man
eat?
How
are
his
cheeks
so
red?)"
Despite
being
two
of
the
leading
actors
in
Bollywood,
Amitabh
Bachchan
in
a
rare
interview
had
revealed
that
the
duo
never
"bickered,
argued
or
tried
to
upstage
one
another
in
any
manner"
on
the
sets
of
Anand
or
Namak
Haraam.
On
the
contrary,
when
Bachchan
was
working
in
Calcutta
(now
Kolkata)
and
was
keen
to
join
films,
his
inspiration
was
Khanna.
He
recalled
how
happy
he
had
been
when
Hrishikesh
Mukherjee
asked
him
to
work
with
Rajesh
Khanna
in
Anand.
"It
was
a
dream
come
true"
for
him.
Bachchan
remained
a
modest
admirer
of
the
late
actor
throughout
his
career
as
he
would
always
admit
his
fame
was
purely
because
he
was
working
with
Khanna.
And
the
admiration
wasn't
one-sided.
After
seeing
Bachchan
in
Namak
Haraam
at
a
trial
at
Liberty
cinema,
Khanna
knew
his
time
was
up.
"'Here
is
the
superstar
of
tomorrow,' he
had
told
Hrishikesh
Mukherjee."
"Excellence
-
The
Amitabh
Bachchan
Way",
a
biographical
work
on
Bachchan
by
Rupa
publications,
releases
today,
on
his
75th
birthday.
PTI