The Night Out That Cost Jeetendra His Debut as a Hero

V. Shantaram's sets ran on rules, and everyone in the industry knew it. In 1962 a young Jeetendra found out exactly how seriously those rules were meant, and the punishment he took is one of the strangest stories in Hindi cinema.

Cast as the lead, opposite Sandhya

Shantaram picked Jeetendra for the lead in Sehra, opposite Sandhya. For a newcomer it was the kind of break careers are built on, and the unit moved to Rajasthan for the location shoot.

Breaking the ten o'clock curfew

One evening after pack up, Jeetendra slipped away into town. He came back late, past the ten o'clock deadline Shantaram enforced on the unit, and missed dinner. Shantaram found out and was furious enough to order him put on a train back to Mumbai.

The apology at the temple

A unit member advised him to catch Shantaram at the temple he visited every morning. Jeetendra went and prostrated himself before the director. Shantaram relented, but only partly. Jeetendra could stay on the film, not as the hero, but as Sandhya's body double, in women's clothes, doing her fight and stunt scenes in disguise.

He took it, and it paid off

Jeetendra accepted the demotion and finished the shoot that way. Prashant was credited as the male lead of Sehra. Shantaram, though, clearly noticed who had swallowed his pride without walking off, and two years later cast Jeetendra as hero in Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne opposite his daughter Rajshree.

Sehra is still remembered for its music by Ramlal and lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle.

Want the full account of Shantaram's discipline and its casualties? Read the complete piece on Kalakruti Media.