“The muhurat of Kamal Amrohi’s Majnoon starring Rajesh Khanna was held at Mehboob Studio on the occasion of Rajesh Khanna’s birthday. There were hoardings outside Bandra railway station saying ‘This road goes to Mehboob Studio’.
There were hoardings and posters on the way.
A brilliant muhurat scene was filmed on Rajesh Khanna and Rakhee. There was a feast after that. But the film later got shelved. It was Khanna’s home production. Another film of his that got shelved was Rajesh Khanna 007 directed by Narendra Bedi, co-starring Zahira as Khanna’s heroine.
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Surendra Mohan’s Wapasi starring Khanna, Zeenat Aman and Rakhee also got shelved. Prakash Mehra earlier wanted to cast Rajesh Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha for Jaadugar. Amitabh Bachchan came on board later in place of Khanna.
B.R. Chopra had announced a film called Kahani starring Khanna, but it didn’t get made. When Khanna’s Avatar became a hit, director Mohan Kumar announced a film called Aadmi Bhool Jaata Hai. That film also got shelved. People used to tease that Khanna himself forgot Aadmi Bhool Jaata Hai!
There was a film titled Agyaat produced by new producers. A party was held but the film didn’t get made. Pramod Chakravarty’s Chamatkar was completed by 80%. Parveen Babi disappeared and the film couldn’t be made. Manmohan Desai was going to make Bajirao Mastani with Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini but that film also got shelved.
When Majnoon was shelved, there were rumours that it was a publicity stunt by Rajesh Khanna to be in the news, so that he remained in demand. Most of these shelved films are from the time of his downfall.
Rajesh Khanna used to stay on the Second Floor of Saraswati Niwas where his uncle used to stay. Khanna’s hairstyles and clothes from his films would become trends in the market. He was the only actor after Dev Anand in that era who attracted such fan frenzy.”
