Khoon Bhari Maang clocks 35 years: Rakesh Roshan reveals Rekha didn’t know horse using, says, ‘My heart was pumping during the shoot’

It was 35 years in the past on this date when Rakesh Roshan directed movie, Khoon Bhari Maang hit the theatres, and it continues to stay one of many basic movies of its time. Taking us down reminiscence lane, Roshan says he desires to attempt one thing “different” after he made Khudgarz (1987). “So, I developed the whole story of Khoon Bhari Maang and went to Rekha. She was really excited, and that excitement pushed me further,” recollects the filmmaker, including that the casting for the movie was fairly novel. “When I wrote the script, I did not have any star cast in my mind. I just knew Rekha would play the lead heroine’s role… she was the best choice for it. She looks beautiful in both Indian and western attires,” mentions the filmmaking, and goes on to speak about how the lead hero and the antagonist got here on board.

“Now, I had to cast a usual, but charming husband, and I was thinking who to cast. So, I spoke to Kabir Bedi and sent him the script, and he also agreed. As for the antagonist, I was looking for a very fresh face. I had seen Sonu Walia in a dubbing studio and thought she could play the negative part, so that’s how she became a part of the film,” the 73-year-old tells us, asserting that he made this movie with “full conviction and made no compromises”.

One of the standout moments in the course of the filming was Rekha’s horse using scene. “There were four horses of the same colour for Rekha to choose from. When the moment came for her to ride the horse, she told me she had never done horse riding before,” Roshan exclaims as he recounts. “But she said, ‘Don’t worry, I will do it.’ She then sat on the horse and rode it like she was a born horse rider. My heart was pumping, thinking, ‘Kahin yeh girr na jaaye.”

Another factor that continues to be one of the scariest scenes from the movie is the portion when Rekha’s husband tries to kill her by pushing her in entrance of a crocodile in a lake. “The crocodile concept was very new at that time, so it was very exciting for me to shoot that plot. It was a step ahead of its time,” mentions the filmmaking, who admits going through a whole lot of challenges throughout that shoot.

“Unfortunately, I did not have the time to scout the outdoor location. We had to shoot in a small hill station called Coonoor, and I asked my assistant to look for the outdoor shoot location there. When we arrived, I got to know that there were no hotels there. There was a guest house with around 100 rooms, kind of like Dharamshala. So, I booked the whole guest house and got it painted. Rekha and Kabir were happy with this setting,” the director wraps up, ruling out the thought of a remake of Khoon Bhari Maang, as he says, “Classics can never be remade”.