38 Years Of Betaab, Some Unknown Facts

38 Years Of Betaab

1. Betaab was  a launch  pad for Dharmendra’s  elder son  Sunny Deol . Dharamji not only produced the  film he also  got Rahul Rawail to direct . Rahul had  earlier launched Dharamji’s  colleague Rajendra Kumar’s son Kumar Gaurav successfully in Love Story. “I told Rahul only one thing. Make a film that all of us would be  proud of,” Dharamji recalls.
2. A nationwide hunt was launched  for the girl who would star  opposite Sunny Deol. After  considering many girls, Dharamji and Rahul zeroed in  on socialite  and Sanjay Gandhi’s close  associate Rukhsana Sultan’s perky daughter. Amrita Singh not only signed Betaab she  went on  to become a very close  friend of  Sunny Deol. They subsequently did another Deol home production  together—Sunny. It  bombed miserably. Recalls Dharamji warmly, “Amrita was  a part  of  our family. Hamare bachche bahot ghul-mil gaye(Sunny and Amrita became  friends).”   Years later, Sunny wanted  to launch his son Karan opposite Amrita Singh’s  daughter  Sara  in continuation  of  the Betaab couple.Amrita refused.
3. Betaab was  written by Javed Akhar in his  first solo  outing after he  split with Salim Khan. It was actually a take on Shakespeare’s The Taming Of  The Shrew where a  commoner kidnaps  a girl from a wealthy family and teaches her  how to live   like  an  ordinary woman. Says Dharamji, “I think  that story had  already been  done with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.And Dilip Saab’s Aan with Nadira was also similar. In Betaab Javed wrote the  screenplay  with all-new twists.”
4. R D Burman’s music  went a  long way in making Betaab a superhit. The  song Jab hum jawan honge jaane kahaan honge by Lataji and Shabbir Kapoor carried the film to  a repeat  value. Says Dharamji, “Oh my God! Jab hum jawaan honge jaane kahan honge contributed  more to  making  Sunny  a star than any other factor.I’ve always  been a fan of Lataji’s singing. When I  turned producer  for Betaab she had  to sing in it.”
5. Betaab was released  during  the  year of major blockbusters Himmatwala, Andha Kanoon , Coolie and Hero.It became the second biggest  hit of the year.

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