Waheeda Rehman Recalls Other Directors' Reaction On Her Doing 'Guide': 'I Said If You Don't Like It, Fire Me'

Waheeda Rehman took on the part of a woman who leaves her husband and pursues her love as a dancer in the Dev Anand-starring film Guide.

New Delhi: Waheeda Rehman took on the part of a woman who leaves her husband and pursues her love as a dancer in the Dev Anand-starring film Guide, which was not how traditional heroines were perceived in the past. As a result, several directors strongly disagreed with Waheeda's decision to play that part. The legendary actor remembered in a recent interview that Ram Maheshwari, the director of Neel Kamal, was quite furious when she accepted the role of Guide because both films were being shot at the same time.

She revealed that the director had told her that by portraying a wife who leaves her husband, she was "destroying" him. During a conversation with Doordarshan, the actor recalled, "I was shooting for both Guide and Neel Kamal around the same time. When the director got to know that I was doing Guide, he said ‘Waheeda ji you are killing me, you have destroyed me’. I said ‘I don’t get it’. He said ‘in my film, you are called Sita, who is fully in love with her husband and in Guide you are playing Rosy, who is dancer who leaves her husband. So I am destroyed’."

In fact, the director advised her to go to Hollywood rather than the Hindi film industry if she wanted to portray such roles. "He said ‘you should not do these kind of films because these films don’t work in India. This works in Hollywood. If you are fond of these kind of movies, then go work in Hollywood’,” she shared.

Waheeda offered him the option of terminating her because she was unwilling to leave Guide and there was so much reluctance on his behalf. "I promised to work on both films. I'll get fired if you don't like it. I'm not going to leave Guide. He was very upset," she said.

She then discussed the director's feedback on her work following the premiere of Guide, revealing that he perceived Rosy as the vamp of that story. “When Guide released, he sent me a telegram. He wrote ‘excellent performance but for a vamp’s role’. I laughed a lot. Even though he was an educated man, his thinking was small,” she shared.

Waheeda Rehman has recently been honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to Indian cinema.