Rajat’s Bedi father, Narendra Bedi, was a renowned filmmaker in the 70s and 80s. he worked on films like Benaam, Bandhan, Adalat among many others with superstars like Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. However, Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan’s rivalry and closure of films led to financial losses which left his father succumbing to Alcohol.
Rajat Bedi on Rajesh Khanna-Amitabh Bachchan rivalry
In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, he recalled emotional moment when his father passed away. He further added that Rajesh Khanna’s rivalry with Amitabh Bachchan too had an adverse affect on his father’s financial status. He revealed, “My dad was facing issues with Rajesh Khanna. He had started 2-3 films with Rajesh Khanna and Rajesh Khanna felt bad that my father was engaging with Amitabh Bachchan and doing projects with him. I don’t know the real story, but my father had taken the unit to Pune for one or two films, and he was waiting for Rajesh Khanna to come.”
“For 10 to 15 days, Rajesh Khanna didn’t come, and my father just closed the projects. I guess heroes at that time were problematic or something. So there were some issues between Rajesh Khanna and Papa, maybe because of Bachchan sahab or various other things. So Papa got into…,” he added.
Rajat also spoke about his father’s bond with Rajesh Khanna and asserted, “So Rajesh Khanna and Papa used to drink all night. I remember in my house, there used to be crates of alcohol. He used to smoke, have Pan Parag; the lifestyle was terrible. Rajesh would leave him at 5-6 in the morning, and all night they would be drinking.”
When Narendra Bedi left Kamal Haasan upset
Reflecting on how alcoholism affected his father’s career, he said, “It became so bad that when he would go for shoots… like during the shooting of Sanam Teri Kasam, he would be drinking from morning, and Kamal Haasan ji would get very upset with that because he would come on set smelling of alcohol. He was going through his journey of pain through all those circumstances.”
On the work front, Rajat made a comeback with The Ba***ds of Bollywood. He essayed the role of Jaraj Saxena, a forgotten hero. He recently confirmed that the show is coming with season 2 and work is underway.
