Was Anand Really Offered To Dharmendra?

The legendary Dharmendra  was filmmaker  Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s  favourite actor. And RajeshKhanna who  was  extremely possessive  about his  favourite directors  didn’t like thie partiality at all.  Hrishida  told me how irked “Kaka”(Khanna) would get when he  gave the  “wrong” answer  to the question, ‘Hrishida, who is your favourite actor?’

Hrishida told me, “Dharmendra  was always  my favourite. He starred in my all-time favourite  film from my repertoire Satyakam.”

I can’t recall Hrishida mentioning  that Dharmendra was  considered  for Anand. It therefore came as a surprise to hear Dharmendra say that he was “upset” that Anand went to Rajesh Khanna afterHrishida  had spoken to Dharmendra about it.

Maybe Hrishida  did mention Anand to Dharmendra. Although he  was not  in  the  habit of offering  the same role to  several actors. For that we  must turn to the late Rituparno Ghosh who  offered Bariwali simultaneously  to  Raakhee Gulzar and  Jaya Bachchan but finally cast  KirronKher when her husband Anupam Kher agreed to producer  Bariwali.