Jab Rekha ne ek bade south ke producer for rula diya tha... BY Ali Peter John

We were flying to Hyderabad for the muhurat of a film called 'Asha Jyoti' which was to star Rajesh Khanna, Rekha and Shabana Azmi. The film was to be directed by Dasari Narayan Rao who was know for directing seven or eight films in a day and it was being produced by a big time producer and politician from Coimbatore whose name was Kovai chezhian - Ali Peter John

All the three stars were with us journalists on the same flight and we reached the Annaapurna studios.

There was a huge crowd in the compound of the studio which belonged to the one time legendary telgu star Dr Akkennei Nageshvara Rao and he was supposed to be the chief guest at the muhurat.

All things were ready and the first shot was to be taken on all the three stars. All was well till Rekha saw one of the journalist from Bombay who she couldn't stand and once told me she would kill if she met him face to face.

Now that journalist called Harmeet Kathuria was right in front of her and she told the producer that would not shoot until that journalist was taken to the gate of the studio and thrown out.

The producer who was the one of the most respected personalities in the south couldn't make head or tail of what Rekha was telling him. But Rekha was very serious, she stopped shooting.

The producer who as I said was also a politician found out a very clever way. He first arranged a show of the telegu version of Devdas in which Nageshwara Rao was the hero and arranged for a very sumptuous lunch and then arranged for three cars and asked the PRO to take all of us journalists on the trip all around Hyderabad.

A man running towards us journalists and said, " Madam says only Ali can come on the sets when I am shooting, all the rest can go back to Bombay" the journalist who was targeted by Rekha pleaded with me to join the group and not to go back to the shooting or he would lose his job. I sided with him even though Rekha was a very good friend.

But that evening the producer cried to me and said that in all his 50 years, he had not like he was when Rekha was humiliating him all through that day. The film seemed to have been a jinxed film. Rajesh Khanna had already lost his charm and his status.

Shabana Azmi had no status as a star and Rekha was involved in all kinds of controversies. The story of the film and also the music were outdated and the film was a washout at the box office. There was no Asha and there was no Jyoti for the producer who died of massive heart attack after the film was released.