Raza Murad recalls Kaka’s cold welcome during Namak Haraam

Veteran actor Raza Murad recently opened up about his early days in cinema, sharing an incident from the sets of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1973 classic

Namak Haraam

. Cast alongside Bollywood giants Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, Raza, then a newcomer, found himself in a challenging situation right at the start of his career.
Raza Murad says Rajesh Khanna was upset over casting
Speaking to ANI,

Raza

revealed that Rajesh Khanna wasn’t too pleased with him being cast in the role of Alam. “Rajesh Khanna wanted his guru and friend VK Sharma to do the role, but Hrishi Da didn’t agree to it. This had upset Kaka,” he said, referring to the superstar by his nickname. Raza added that back then, upsetting Khanna was no small thing. “Upar aaka, neeche

Kaka

aur baaki sabki maa ka…” he said with a laugh, underlining just how untouchable Khanna’s stardom was at the time.
The tension was apparent even before the shoot began. Raza recalled being warned by Nitin Mukesh, who was assisting Hrishikesh Mukherjee on the film. He told him that Rajesh Khanna might not be very warm towards him on set. “While it made me uneasy, I also knew that I had to work even if I had to do it against the odds,” Raza remembered.

He also described the hysteria surrounding Khanna at the time. On the first day of shoot, he arrived to see nearly 2,000 girls crowding the set just to catch a glimpse of the actor. “There was a hysteria. The whole country was under Rajesh Khanna’s spell. There was no PR, no television, yet people would know where he was and gather there,” Raza shared.

Raza Murad recalls being uneasy while filming with superstar Rajesh Khanna
In spite of the warning and the pressure of working with such a towering figure, Raza decided to make the first move. He requested Nitin Mukesh to introduce him to Khanna. “Kaka, this is Raza Murad. He is playing the role of Alam,” Nitin said. To their surprise, Khanna stood up, shook Raza’s hand, and greeted him warmly. “It was a very friendly gesture, which was a great thing,” Raza recalled.

Still, the tension lingered during the first scene. Raza admitted to feeling uncomfortable, sensing that Khanna might still not be happy with his casting. But as the scene ended, the superstar offered him a compliment, a gesture that helped ease the atmosphere. From there on, the shoot moved forward smoothly.