Q. How did Amar Prem Happen?

A. Right after Aradhana became such a hit, Shakti Samanta offered me Amar Prem. I was more than happy to do it. The entire film revolved around my character.

Q. Did you see the original Bengali film Nishi Padma with Sabitri Chatterjee and Uttam Kumar before doing Amar Prem?

A. I had seen the original Bengali film before doing Amar Prem. Shakti-da had made both me and Kaka (Rajesh Khanna) see it. I quite liked the original film. It was more about the woman and her relationship with the child.

Q. Was the subject relatable?

A. I had recently become a mother, so it was relatively easy for me to do the motherly character. And do you know, Kaka’s role was to be done by Raaj Kumar.

Q. How did Shakti Samanta replace Raaj Kumar who must have been angry?

A. I don’t know about that. But I never worked with Raaj Kumar except in Waqt where I had no scenes with him. Kaka who had done Aradhana with me and Shakti Samanta, insisted on being a part of Amar Prem.

Q. Rajesh Khanna modelled his performance on Uttam Kumar in the original?

A. Since Uttam Kumar had done such a fabulous job in the original Shaktida made Kaka model his performance on the original. This was one of those films that just turned out right. We were not looking at the boxoffice.We just felt emotionally connected to the characters. The film became a hit and it continues to be liked by new generations. That’s the magic of the story.

Q. R D Burman composed one of his career-best scores in Amar Prem. You got to see Lataji’s immortal Raina Beeti Jaye?

A. Yes, also Lataji’s Bada natkhat hai re krishna Kanhaiya. But what about Kishore Kumar’ songs for Kaka, Chingari koi bhadke, Yeh kya hua and Kuch to log kahenge? Each a classic. I’d say a major reason for the film’s success was R.D Burman’s music and Anand Bakshi’s lyrics. The music and the words carried the story forward.

Q. The premiere of Amar Prem was attended by the who’s who?

A. I remember the premier of Amar Prem was attended by Field Marshal Manekshaw. And the very next day after the premiere the 1971 Indo-Pak war broke out.

Q. You and Rajesh Khanna are the ultimate screen pair?

A. Kaka and I did many films together. We really worked well together. I was pregnant with Saif during Aradhana and with Soha when Kaka and I did Choti Bahu. Kaka and I had two major problems. He came much too late on the sets and our best profile on camera was the same. So when we were in the same frame together Kaka and I were always trying to get the cameraman to shoot our right profile.