Kajol is the killer in Gupt – for an entire generation of Hindi cinema fans, this was the biggest spoiler that one could experience. It was derived from the film, directed by Rajiv Rai, and featuring Bobby Deol and Manisha Koirala alongside Kajol. Gupt was seen as daring for its time, and one can imagine that not many in Bollywood were supportive of Rajiv Rai’s decision to show a woman as the villain. In a recent interview, he revealed that even Amitabh Bachchan scolded him when he watched the film before its release.
In a chat shared on the Ravi Buleiy Official YouTube channel, Rajiv shared that Amitabh requested to watch Gupt during a trial show in Chennai, and called him the next day. “He said, ‘Rajiv, are you convinced with what you have done in this film? You have made Kajol the killer, are you sure? How can you be so sure?’ So in one way, as a senior, he scolded me.” He added, “Mere ko daant padi. He is a senior, he can obviously scold me.” Amitabh and Rajiv’s father, producer Gulshan Rai, worked together in films such as Deewaar and Trishul, among many others.
He recalled that Amitabh “questioned” his decision, and continued, “He questioned me, ‘How are you so confident that this will work? I told him, ‘Sir, I don’t have an answer for your questions. It is Wednesday already, please wait for 2 days, you will get your answer.” Gupt eventually became a huge hit.
Rajiv recalled that he had worked as an assistant director on Trishul and Kaala Paththar and had learnt a lot from Amitabh Bachchan’s professionalism, which is why, when he started directing films, he approached the actor with a “fabulous script.” He recalled that this was between 1992 and 1994, when Amitabh Bachchan was going through a rather difficult phase in his career.
Rajiv shared that he met with director Anees Bazmee and they prepared a script for Bachchan, but when they narrated it to him, he wasn’t interested. “He said that the phase that I am going through right now, I don’t want to do any films. He was not going through a good phase then,” he recalled, and added, “He was confused, and in that confusion, he said no. He is not a confused man but his circumstances were such.” Rajiv shared that he was quite confident that Amitabh would say yes to the film, so when the star said no, he was quite heartbroken.
He said that he was upset when Amitabh rejected his film. “I was like, ‘I worked so hard, I was angry with my destiny, not with Amitabh Bachchan. I thought if destiny does not want me to work with Amit ji, I will work with someone new, so I made Mohra with Suniel Shetty,” he shared. Mohra and Gupt were both massive hits at the box office.
