Waheeda Rehman and Dilip Kumar worked together in a couple of films and one of them is Tapi Chanakya’s 1967 hit, Ram Aur Shyam.
Waheeda Rehman, one of the finest actresses of the Hindi film industry, has shared screen space with some of the biggest male superstars of the country. One of them is thespian Dilip Kumar. The duo worked together in films like Dil Diya Dard Liya, Ram Aur Shyam, Aadmi and Mashaal.
Today, we bring you an interesting anecdote from the sets of Ram Aur Shyam which featured Dilip Kumar in a double role as twin brothers. Waheeda Rehman essayed the role of one of Kumar’s love interests, Anjana in this comedy drama.
Way back in an interview with Filmfare magazine in 2002, the veteran actress had recalled a funny memory from the sets of Ram Aur Shyam.
She had reminisced about one of the scenes from this film where her character Anjana meets Dilip Kumar’s Ram at the dining table for the first time and Gajendra (Pran) drops in. The sequence featured Ram mocking Gajendra and relishing some boiled eggs.
Waheeda had told the magazine, “Dilipsaab was supposed to wolf down half a dozen boiled eggs. For all sorts of reasons, the director just didn’t okay the shot and Dilipsaab had to do several takes. He did it without complaining, but I just couldn’t watch him doing it- it was so awful that I was ready to throw up. The incident put me off boiled eggs for life.”
In the same interview, the Guide actress had also candidly admitted that she had to be very alert while working with the late acting legend. Explaining the reason behind the same, she had said that it was easy for actors to miss their cues while working with Dilip Kumar because of the latter’s characteristic low-key dialogue delivery.
“During an emotional scene, instead of gazing into his eyes, I would be watching his lips carefully. Even after all that, there was one occasion when he had to nudge me to say my lines. The sound recordist came to my rescue and said that even he hadn’t heard what was said. When I gave Dilipsaab the excuse that I was hard of hearing, he promptly sallied, “At this age?”
Ram Aur Shyam was a major success at the box office upon its release. Dilip Kumar had even won a Filmfare Award for his performance in this film.
