Mukesh Khanna, a veteran actor widely recognised for his role as Shaktimaan, recently addressed an old incident involving Amitabh Bachchan.
Khanna spoke about an alleged comment made by Bachchan during a conversation where the superstar reportedly implied that Khanna was imitating him. While Khanna clarified that he doesn’t hold any grudge and dismissed the notion that Amitabh Bachchan had a hand in ending his career, the remark, he admitted, stayed with him.
“I starred in one advertisement. It was an ad where I put on perfume, and girls turned to look at me. A person told me he was present when this ad was being played in a theatre. He was Amitabh’s friend. And Amit ji has a certain style. If I were in his place, I might have said the same thing. He told me that Amit ji saw the ad and said, ‘Saala copy karta hai (He’s copying me).’ You can call me self-respecting or stubborn, but I told that man, ‘Pagal hai tu, woh aisa bolege? (Are you mad? Do you think he’d say this?)’ But that sentence stayed in my mind,” he said during a recent appearance on the YouTube channel Hindi Rush.
This sheds light on how comments, even from peers, can leave lasting impressions on individuals, especially in highly competitive industries.