When Rajesh Khanna Refused To Sell His Bungalow To Salman Khan’s Family

Rajesh Khanna was the prince of Bollywood in the early 1970s. After his stardom took a hit, Khanna experienced a severe financial crisis. He even considered selling his famous Aashirwad bungalow, which he had purchased from Rajendra Kumar for Rs 3.5 lakh.

Author Gautam Chintamani noted that Aashirwad was nothing short of a palace in his book Dark Star: The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna. Khanna was pissed off after Salman Khan’s family showed interest in Aashirwad.

Rajesh Khanna lived like a king in Aashirwad

The bungalow had a “durbar” where producers waited for the actor. “Khanna made tens of producers wait endlessly outside the fabled durbar, granting the audience only once they had done time,” Chintamani wrote. In Aashirwad, Khanna even

behaved like a monarch.

The author wrote that Khanna would appear in “silk lungi-kurta” and sit on a chair “placed a little higher than the others to differentiate between the king and his subjects”.

Chintamani mentioned nights of endless revelry at Aashirwad. The author said Khanna’s guests were treated to “copious amounts of whisky”. They all sang praises of “King Kaka”.

With Amitabh Bachchan’s Zanjeer in 1973, Rajesh Khanna’s stardom suffered a significant blow. Gradually, the audience moved on from Khanna. Under a financial crisis, the Bawarchi actor decided to sell Aashirwad.

Khanna was infuriated when Salman Khan’s family wanted to buy Aashirwad

Salman Khan’s family showed interest in buying Rajesh Khanna’s property at the time. Through screenwriter Rumi Jaffery, Salman Khan contacted Khanna.

Kaka was told that Salman’s brother Sohail Khan wanted to buy Aashirwad. Per Chintamani’s book, the Khan family made several lucrative offers for the same.

They even offered to settle Khanna’s income tax dues. Salman Khan said he would work in a Rajesh Khanna production film for free.

The Anand actor wanted Jaffery to marry one of his daughters. When Jaffery told Khanna about the Khans’ offer, he lost it. “I consider you a son-in-law aur tu mera ghar bikwana chahta hai… Sadak par lana chahta hai!” Khanna told Jaffery.

The screenwriter admitted that he had a tough time explaining he was “merely a postman delivering Sohail Khan’s message”.