Shakti Samanta’s “Aradhana” of 1969 was a roaring success at the box office. But not quite so was “Awaaz” that came in 1984. Yet, when the film was released at Ritz cinema in Delhi, burqa-clad women from a ladies’ club, whose members used to frequent the Purdah Bagh, got the box reserved for them. The box used to be an exclusive seating zone for around 20 viewers. The women came to see “Awaaz” because of Rajesh Khanna’s good boy image and Jayaprada’s sati-savitri reputation.
Samanta decided to spring a surprise by incorporating a bedroom sequence with the camera focussing on Kaka’s bare torso! Pot-bellied and all, he no longer had the physique to carry off such a sequence.
The song was booed, and the film failed.
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