WHEN SANDOW M.M.A. CHINNAPPA DEVAR WHIPPED A SPOT BOY WITH A LASH TO PUNISH LATE COMER RAJESH KHANNA

It is quite difficult to believe that once upon a time there were disciplinarian producers down South who did not believe in pampering stars and just wanted their pound of flesh- the star’s dates right from 7 am to 7 pm every day on the sets at Chennai - Jyothi Venkatesh

The popular producer of Devar Films yaane ki Sandow M.M.A Chinnappa Devar was one among them. It was Devar who had produced Haathi Mere Saathi with Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja in the lead.

Not many are aware of the fact that Haathi Mere Saathi was the first ever collaborative effort of Salimand Javed way back in 1971 before they started writing for Bombay To Goa and Zanjeer.

On being questioned as to how the film came about, Javed said "One day, Rajesh Khanna went to Salimsaab and said that Mr. Devar had given him a huge signing amount with which he could complete the payment for his bungalow Aashirwad.

But the film was a remake of the Tamil film Deiva Cheyal starring MGR and the script of the original was far from being satisfactory.

He told us that if we could set the script right, he would make sure we got both money and credit. "I can't do such a terrible script," he said. "And I can't leave it because I need the money!'

Devar demanded a chunk of 40 days from Rajesh Khanna and promised to complete the entire shooting schedule in those days. The man refused to compromise on any account and when Rajesh Khanna demanded a sum of 15 lakhs, he just doled out to him 5 lakhs extra and just told him that he only wanted him to standby his promise and report on the sets exactly at the dot of 9 am and also pack up by 9 pm when Rajesh Khanna told him that it would be difficult for him to report at 7am after having drinks till late night.

Though Kaka, that is Rajesh Khanna for you and me did report on time at the dot of 9 am on the first five days, the late lateef started turning up late by 3 hours after the fifth day and when his brother and also director of Haathi Mere Saathi M. A. Thirumugam discreetly put in a word that he was not able to can more shots since the hero was turning up almost three hours late every day. Devar decided to teach him a lesson in a smart way and the next day hired a spot boy on the sets to be the recipient of his whiplashes exactly when Rajesh Khanna was entering the sets at 12 noon.

Devar did not wish Rajesh Khanna at all and just started acting as if he was whipping the spot boy and loudly reprimanded him by telling in Tamil, “I am paying you more than what you deserve as your price for reporting on the sets daily and not for turning up three hours late. If you report late one more day, I will straight away send you back to Bombay and make my film with some other hero here.” Rajesh Khanna asked a guy who he knew what Devar had told the spot boy in Tamil and was shocked when the guy told him what Devar had said without even once referring to Rajesh Khanna’s name in his conversation.

Guess what happened the very next day it was nothing short of a miracle when it was raining heavily and the car did not reach the hotel where Rajesh Khanna was put up by Devar on time and Rajesh Khanna panicked and caught a cab from his hotel to report on the sets before 9 am.

Tanuja who was on the sets on time and producer Devar looked at each other and smiled. From then on, Rajesh Khanna did not report late even for a single day and the film was completed on time and released by Devar Films.

However, once Rajesh Khanna returned to Bombay and started shooting for his films, he once again became the usual late lateef because leopards rarely change their spots. The South Indian producers did not believe in pampering their actors or asking them to owe their prices and hence could command the stars.

By the way, the film Haathi Mere Saathi was the highest-grossing Indian film of 1971. In India, its net income was 35 million and its total domestic gross was ₹70 million (US$9.34 million), equivalent to US$62 million (₹3.65 billion) with inflation.