Jeetendra, whose real name is Ravi Kapoor, had never planned on becoming an actor. During his teenage years, he used to work with his parents and was associated with his family business of imitation jewellery. However, one day, when he had gone to supply some jewellery to the filmmaker, V. Shantaram, the latter had noticed a spark in him. And eventually, the director named Ravi as Jeetendra and had introduced him to the industry. In 1964, Jeetendra had made his debut with the film, Geet Gaya Patharon Ne, starring Rajshree.
Veteran actor, Jeetendra delivered countless films every year during his hay days. Titled as the ‘jumping jack of Bollywood’ for his unique dancing style, the talented actor saw 8-10 releases in a year. The 79-year-old actor stole millions of hearts with his acting as well as dancing skills in some of the blockbuster movies in his career. As Jeetendra was mostly offered movies starring actresses, Jaya Prada and Sridevi, he had once revealed in an interview how they both were his ‘bread and butter’.
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On K Raghavendra Rao’s talk show, Soundarya Lahiri, Jeetendra had shared how he had lost everything when his film, Deedar-E-Yaar, couldn’t impress the audience. He had also revealed how Raghavendra Rao and the film, Himmatwala had changed his life for good. Sharing the details, he had said:
“With the release of Himmatwala, I bounced back. I made so much money. I forget my loss. And life went on. Two things – Raghavendra Rao and Telugu brought me back to life. Himmatwala was a roaring success.”
Directed by Harnam Singh Rawail and presented by Jeetendra, the film, Deedar-E-Yaar took five years to complete shooting. The film also starred actors like, Late Rishi Kapoor, Rekha and Tina Munim. However, in 1982, when the most-anticipated film was eventually released, it flopped at the box office. Thus, the veteran actor, Jeetendra had to suffer a massive loss of Rs. 2.5 crores in those times. But the actor had forgotten everything when his next film, Himmatwala, starring late Sridevi, turned out to be one of the most successful films of his career.
During the most difficult phase of his life, Jeetendra had felt hopeless. But fortunately, filmmaker, Raghavendra Rao, had offered him the film, Himmatwala, opposite Sridevi. Recalling the moment, Jeetendra had said:
“I was so happy when he (Raghavendra Rao) said Sridevi was going to star next to me. I used to call Sridevi and Jaya Prada my bread and butter."
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Further in the talk show, Jeetendra had also said that Telugu is a very beautiful language and he owes a lot of things to the Telugu film industry and audience. This is because he considered the legendary filmmaker, LV Prasad as his guru, and his first big hit was with LV Prasad. He had said:
“If I called anybody my father after my own, it is LV Prasad. And I received a lot of love from Telugu people and they helped me in my worst crisis.”
After Himmatwala was released in 1983, it had broken all the records and had become a gamechanger for Jeetendra and Sridevi. And later, all Jeetendra had wanted was to work with Sridevi in every film, who had become a star with her hit dance songs and glamorous presence on the big screen. And the two had worked in 16 films after that, out of which, 13 films were successes.
However, Sridevi, who became a household name with the film, Himmatwala, called it her ‘bad luck’. The gorgeous actress mostly received glamourous roles after the film’s success. Moreover, she was given the title of ‘Thunder Thighs’ after the popularity of her spectacular dance performance in the song, Naino Mein Sapna.
According to a report in PTI, a book named Sridevi: Queen of Hearts had mentioned an excerpt from one of Sridevi’s interviews. In the interview, the late actress had said:
"In Tamil films, they love to see me act naturally. But in Hindi films they want a lot of glamour, richness and masala. My bad luck was that my first big hit in Hindi films turned out to be a commercial one (Himmatwala).”
Do you think Jeetendra and Sridevi were a hit jodi back in the '90s? Let us know in the comments.
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