30 Years of Khuda Gawah EXCLUSIVE: “Afghanistan mein hamare aage 4-5 tank hote the aur peeche bhi 4-5 tank hote the. Aur beech mein hamara 200 ka unit hota tha” – Manoj Desai 30 : Bollywood News

The grand saga, Khuda Gawah, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi, Danny Denzongpa, Nagarjuna, Shilpa Shirodkar and Kiran Kumar, completed 30 years on May 8. The Mukul Anand directorial was memorable for many reasons, including the fact that it was a rare film to be shot in Afghanistan. Interestingly, Khuda Gawah was filmed in the neighbouring country at a time when it was going through turmoil. And as expected, it was quite a challenging experience.

30 Years of Khuda Gawah EXCLUSIVE: “Afghanistan mein hamare aage 4-5 tank hote the aur peeche bhi 4-5 tank hote the. Aur beech mein hamara 200 ka unit hota tha” – Manoj Desai

Bollywood Hungama recently spoke to Manoj Desai, the producer of this film. He’s also the executive director, G7 multiplex and Maratha Mandir Cinema. The producer-exhibitor opened up in detail when asked about shooting the film in Afghanistan.

Manoj Desai said, “We shot the film there for 21 days. For those 21 days, Mohammad Najibullah, the then Afghanistan President who was later hanged till death, aired only the old films of Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi on television, and nothing else! He was so honoured to have these stars on Afghan soil. Whenever we’ll go there to shoot, hamare aage 4-5 tank hote the aur peeche bhi 4-5 tank hote the. Aur beech mein hamara 200 ka unit hota tha. So, you can imagine how challenging it was to shoot the film in such circumstances.”

The unit members were treated as state guests. Manoj Desai revealed, “We were well taken care of. The then Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, was very good friends with Mohammad Najibullah. Rajiv ji had called Najibullah sahib and had apprised him that Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi and many other artists are arriving in his country to shoot. He told him that this is a great opportunity for him to showcase how great his country was to India and also to the rest of the world. Hence, he gave us full protection and provided tanks for our security. Our cinematographer, W B Rao, used to in fact shoot by placing the camera atop the tank.”

Also Read: 30 Years of Khuda Gawah EXCLUSIVE: Manoj Desai reveals Sanjay Dutt shot for 7 reels and was then removed; even Ajay Devgn almost bagged the part which was eventually played by Nagarjuna