The 90s was a dangerous time for Bollywood. The underworld fear loomed over the industry and getting extortion calls and even firing incidents on celebs were common. The dark era is over but recently, the firing episode outside superstar Salman Khan’s residence brought back these harsh memories. Manoj Desai, executive director, G7 multiplex and Maratha Mandir Cinema, while talking about it in an interview, went down memory lane and revealed that he once met the fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim at music director Laxmikant’s (of Laxmikant-Pyarelal fame) residence.
Gaiety-Galaxy’s Manoj Desai recalls meeting fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim: “He was glad that I cast Amitabh Bachchan in the role of an Afghani Pathan in Khuda Gawah”
Manoj Desai, while talking to the YouTube channel FilmiFever, addressed Dawood Ibrahim as Dawood ji. When the host asked him why he did so, Manoj Desai replied, “I have to address him as ‘Ji’. Maratha Mandir is located in his area.” The iconic single-screen theatre is located at Mumbai Central, close to Dongri, where the gangster grew up.
When asked if he ever met Dawood Ibrahim, he revealed, “I briefly met him during the release of my film Khuda Gawah (1992). I met him for 5 minutes at Laxmikant ji’s house. He was happy to see Khuda Gawah. He was also glad with the fact that I cast Amitabh Bachchan in the role of an Afghani Pathan.”
Manoj Desai continued, “I think he also said on Laxmikant ji’s birthday that ‘Hum Khuda Gawah do baar dekh chuke hai aur (phir bhi) ji nahin bhara hai’!”
Manoj Desai produced the much-loved film, Khuda Gawah, and it was a rare Hindi film shot in Afghanistan. During the film’s 30th anniversary in May 2022, the producer-exhibitor exclusively told Bollywood Hungama on shooting in the neighbouring country, “Amitabh Bachchan’s mother Teji Bachchan ji had warned me that ‘Agar Amit ko kuch bhi hota hai aur agar Jaya ne safed saree peheni, toh teri wife Kalpana bhi safed saree pehengi. Tu idhar aana hi nahin wapis’! Even Sridevi’s mother gave a warning that ‘Manoj bhai, agar Sri ko kuch hua, toh Kabul se wapis mat aana. Tumhara khoon karwa dungi main idhar’! So, you can imagine how risky it was. However, Amitabh Bachchan wanted an authentic location for the shoot.”
Besides Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi, Khuda Gawah also starred Danny Denzongpa, Nagarjuna, Shilpa Shirodkar and Kiran Kumar.
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