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Talking about the film, actor Dilip Thakurrevealed that Ram Kelkar wrote a script titled ‘Sangeet’.The film was titled ‘Sangeet’ because the film was a musical love story.Sanjay Dutt was supposed to star in the film because he had worked with Ghai in Vidhaata (1982). But Dutt went for his rehab in the US. Kamal Haasan was approached for the role but he was busy because he was working in multiple language films. When Kumar Gaurav was approached, he refused to grow a beard assuming that a beard won’t suit him.
However, Ghai believed that it was a rough n tough role. Rajendra Kumar (Kumar Gaurav’s father) asked for an increased amount of remuneration. At the time, Jackie Shroff was a model and the talks of him working in Swami Dada were going on. Ghai chose Jackie Shroff to play the lead role. Because of Sanjay Dutt not acting in the film, Rati Agnihotri was dropped out from the film. Munmun Sen refused and so did Sangeeta Bijlani who was busy with modelling.
Jackie Shroff and Neena Gupta sport outfits in similar colours at the screening of their film
He went on to add that the reports of Meenakshi Seshadri from the film Painter Babu were good. So, Jackie Shroff and Meenakshi Seshadri were paired with each other. The rest of the cast members such as Shammi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Amrish Puri were there in Vidhaata too. It also had Madan Puri, Manik Irani and Bindu.
The film’s music was a hit. Lyricist Anand Bakshi and music director duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal gave superhit songs for Hero. The first song Tu Mera Hero Hai was recorded at the Mehboob Studio. Anuradha Paudwal and Manhar Udhas gave playback to that song. Composer Laxmikant was confident about all six songs from the film’s soundtrack to become hits. And that’s what happened.
Sharing an interesting anecdote, Thakur added that during the shoot of one of the songs, choreographer Saroj Khan had told Subhash Ghai that Shroff was not able to get the dance moves right. Ghai said, “Jackie is a good student. He will keep on learning.” And during the songs of Raam Lakhan, Khan told Ghai that he was right about Shroff.
‘Nindiya Se Aayi Bahaar’ was shot in Ooty early in the morning. Meenakshi Seshadri shot for the song despite having a fever of 104 degrees. Ghai had met Pakistani singer Reshma at a party hosted by Raj Kapoor. Ghai got her to sing Lambi Judaai in Hero.
Elaborating further, Dilip said that when the film was released there was not a great response to the film initially. The press show of the film was held at New Excelsior. Some senior journalists were making fun of the film. Jackie Shroff was present at that press show. During the interval, he was sitting with his head down. But that film became a hit.
He concluded by sharing that on the December 2, 1983, ‘Coolie’ had released. It had created havoc obviously because of Amitabh Bachchan and Manmohan Desai combo. It took some time for Coolie’s euphoria to fade out. After it faded out, ‘Hero’ gained pick up and became successful. Hero completed Silver Jubilee at Ganga.