Daily Times

Veteran actor Waheeda Rehman recalled a dangerous encounter with irked fans who pelted stones at her train compartment after co-star Raj Kapoor refused to let them meet her.

In her recent outing at the digital chat series ‘The Invincibles’ with actor-producer Arbaaz Khan, the thespian recalled the serious encounter with fans when she and Kapoor were shooting for ‘Teesri Kasam’ in Madhya Pradesh.

Talking about that incident with students, the veteran called it ‘dangerous’. She narrated, “Woh sheher me bohot sare colleges the. Jis din hum ja rahe the, train se hi jaana aana tha uss waqt, ek compartment me Raj ji aur unke dost, ek me mai, meri sister aur meri hairdresser, (That town had a lot of colleges. The day we were returning home on the train. While I was with my sister and hairdresser in one compartment, Raj Kapoor and his friend were in another one.)”

Rehman continued, “Gari shuru hui phir ruk gayi. Parda khol ke hum jhaak rahe the toh bohot sare public jama ho gayi thi. Uske kisi ladke ne kaha, ‘Sir, hum aapko dekhna chahte hai, aapke log ne hume bohot tang kia. Abhi hum aapse milna chah rahe hai, (Our train was stopped. When I tried to look through the window, there was this group of students who wanted to meet Raj and me. A boy said, ‘Sir, we want to meet you, your people have really troubled us. We want to meet you now’).” The veteran mentioned that although Kapoor met with the fans and greeted them, he refused to let her meet them, which irked the boys.

“Phir maine Raj ji ko bula ke bola ‘Jaane do Raj ji’. He said ‘Nahi, it’s not safe. Agar khich ke le ke chale gaye’. I said ‘Aise kaise khich ke le ke chale gaye’, (I told Raj Kapoor to let it go but he refused them),” she added.

“Woh ladko ko itna gussa aya ki woh pathar phekne lage. Raj ke dost jo the unhone kaha ‘Waheeda ji Raj ke apne compartment me rakho. Kyuki he was getting wild. Ek toh gore toh the aur laal tamatar ke tarah ho gaye the. Hum dar gaye inko kuch heart fail nahi ho jaye, hum teeno ladies, koi inka hanth pakra hai, koi pair pakra hai… (They were so angry that they started pelting stones at the train compartment. Raj’s friend told us to go inside his compartment. Raj was furious and turned as red as a tomato, so we got scared about him. All three of us held his hands and feet to stop him).” ‘Teesri Kasam’, directed by Basu Bhattacharya and produced by lyricist Shailendra, was Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman’s first film together. It failed to rule the box office but fetched the National award for best film.