Re-visiting the Sunny Deol classic Betaab

Director Rahul Rawail recalls how the adaptation of ‘The Taming of the Shrew‘ worked wonders with the feisty Amrita Singh and the dashing Sunny Deol in the lead. A benchmark as far as young romances go, Betaab makes for a perfect watch even after 25 years! Sunny’s launch vehicle Lime and green textured walls, Read More">minimalRead More

Director Rahul Rawail recalls how the adaptation of 'The Taming of the Shrew' worked wonders with the feisty Amrita Singh and the dashing Sunny Deol in the lead. A benchmark as far as young romances go, Betaab makes for a perfect watch even after 25 years!

Sunny's launch vehicle

Lime and green textured walls, minimal decor and plush sofas to sink in comfortably form the setting of Rahul Rawail's Juhu office. Over a steaming cup of chai, he rewinds 25 years ago to when he was only 29 and three films old (Gunehgaar, Love Story, Biwi O Biwi). He was at a strange crossroads in life as Love Story became a hit but owing to differences with Rajendra Kumar, the producer of the film, he was denied the credit. "I was pleasantly surprised when Dharamji sent for me after the Love Story mess-up," he harks back. Rawail was well acquainted with Dharmendra not only through his father, H S Rawail, the maker of classics like Laila Majnu and Mere Mehboob, but had also worked with him as Raj Kapoor's assistant during the making of Mera Naam Joker. "I met Dharamji and his brother Ajit ji at his Juhu bungalow when he asked me to captain Sunny Deol's launch vehicle. Then it was the biggest deal for any young director at that time," he recalls happily. That was in April, 1980.

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Riots for Tickets Sunny’s launch film had already generated a strong buzz in the film industry since after every schedule, rushes had to be shown in preview theatres, “Word got around and Betaab had a positive impact right from the release, ” he recalls with a smile. Surprisingly, Read More">there was no special premiere organized for theRead More

Riots for Tickets

Sunny's launch film had already generated a strong buzz in the film industry since after every schedule, rushes had to be shown in preview theatres, "Word got around and Betaab had a positive impact right from the release," he recalls with a smile. Surprisingly, there was no special premiere organized for the big launch, "Dharamji didn't want a big premiere but we organized a show at Gaiety and Galaxy theatres for the entire industry," he narrates.

Rahul Rawail, Javed Akhtar and Sunny Deol suffered pre-release jitters since it was Sunny's first film, Akhtar's first independent venture and Rawail's big film after the Love Story fiasco, "I started growing a beard then and vowed to cut it off only after the film was declared a hit," he laughs. On the opening day of the film, he was surprised to be accosted by a film distributor from Punjab," Two people are dead, the film is such a big hit that there was a riot for tickets and there was a police firing," he said laughing heartily. Rawail was stunned at his macabre pleasure, "If you noticed, Javedsaab has cleverly used that incident in Luck By Chance," he points out.

"Dharamji watched the film every day for the first two weeks at Gaiety theatre in Bandra, Mumbai," he informs. The film was an unprecedented hit, it launched Sunny as a huge star and Rawail was considered the new whiz kid on the block. "It was a great high! I was surprised by people's changed attitude towards me. 'We knew that you had it in you,' they said," he smiles wickedly.

Betaab remains a benchmark as far as young romances go. It makes for a perfect Valentine watch even after 25 years!

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Pancham’s score, Bakshi’s genius The film had meaningful songs, composed by R D Burman, rendered by Lata Mangeshkar and Shabbir Kumar. All the five songs – ‘Badal yun garajta hai’, ‘Jab hum jawaan honge’, ‘Parbaton se aaj main’, Read More">‘Teri tasveer mil gayee‘ and ‘Apne dil se badi dushmuni ki‘ were memorable hits. “How many antarasRead More

Pancham's score, Bakshi's genius

The film had meaningful songs, composed by R D Burman, rendered by Lata Mangeshkar and Shabbir Kumar. All the five songs - 'Badal yun garajta hai', 'Jab hum jawaan honge', 'Parbaton se aaj main', 'Teri tasveer mil gayee' and 'Apne dil se badi dushmuni ki' were memorable hits. "How many antaras do you need?" enquired veteran lyricist Anand Bakshi and Rawail replied, "Five." The next day Bakshi handed over 40 antaras and said," Keep the ones you like." That was for the famous song, 'Jab hum jawaan honge...'

'Baadal yun garajta hai '... was the first song to be shot for the film, "After watching the rushes, all of us felt that it that could have been done better and so we re-shot it. It worked better in the new and improved avatar," he declares gladly. The film was wrapped up in two years since taking gaps between schedules was a normal thing then.

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English masters for Equestrian stunts Capitalising on Sunny’s expertise as a horse rider, the film had some scintillating equestrian stunts executed by renowned action masters from the West. Jim Allen, who had earlier directed stunts in Sholay, also executed the major action sequences in Betaab as well. Tinny Powell and Tony Smart, Read More">both English equestrianRead More

English masters for Equestrian stunts

Capitalising on Sunny's expertise as a horse rider, the film had some scintillating equestrian stunts executed by renowned action masters from the West. Jim Allen, who had earlier directed stunts in Sholay, also executed the major action sequences in Betaab as well. Tinny Powell and Tony Smart, both English equestrian specialists, directed the breathtaking sequences in the climax. "Although we had a body-double ready for Sunny, he insisted on performing the death-defying action of sliding under the horse-carriage to grab at the villain, Prem Chopra, who was riding on top. I thundered, 'Out of the question', but Sunny had his way! The way the climax is shot, you can clearly see Sunny in action - it's a hair-raising sequence." He recalls with a shudder, "It was the most anxious moment of the film."

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No Budget, No Deadline Dharmendra was a dream producer for young Rawail as he gave him a free hand with the film, “No limits were set – neither a budget nor any deadline. We enjoyed total creative freedom, ” he relates. There was no interference whatsoever from Dharmendra or Rukhsana, Read More">“In fact the only time DharamjiRead More

No Budget, No Deadline

Dharmendra was a dream producer for young Rawail as he gave him a free hand with the film, "No limits were set - neither a budget nor any deadline. We enjoyed total creative freedom," he relates. There was no interference whatsoever from Dharmendra or Rukhsana, "In fact the only time Dharamji visited the sets was in Kashmir. He stayed there only for a day, saying he was extremely bored just watching the shoot," guffaws Rawail. He confesses that Rukhsana was one of the nicest persons he met, "She was wonderfully clean-hearted," he reminisces fondly.

Betaab was shot over long outdoor schedules. Starting off with over 50 days in Pahalgam, Kashmir which served as Sunny's ranch, and 30 days in Bangalore where the action scenes were captured. "Dingy's Tikamgarh farm -house was initially shot in Delhi and then in Bangalore. Dingy's famous ghat-climbing scene was canned at Mahabaleshwar," informs the director. Only two sets - that of the interior of Roma's house and one for the 'Badal yun garajta hai' song were put up in Mumbai.

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