When Rajesh Khanna ridiculed Amitabh Bachchan's punctuality

Just when Amitabh Bachchan was making a foothold in Bollywood Rajesh Khanna already a superstar had sneered at the angry young mans punctuality calling it a clerical trait a new book has revealed While Khanna was known for throwing tantrums and coming late for shoots Bachchan was getting appreciated by the film fraternity for being very professional and punctual According to Excellence The Amitabh Bachchan Way by Virender Kapoor Rajesh Khanna didnt react well to thisRajesh Khanna and Amitabh BachchanHe apparently said in an interview that he believed that clerks were punctual and that he was not a clerk but an artist says the bookDuring this time Bachchan was still emerging as a star and had just begun receiving appreciation from the publicBragging about his position he added that he was not a slave of his moods but instead his moods were his slaves it addsBachchan however not just remained respectful to Khanna but also admitted that the latter would always be the only superstar for himBachchan was highly impressed by the fact that the late actor had appeared in 153 films by 1991 in a span of 25 years which included 101 solo and 21 multistarcast filmsHe was in awe of Khannas immense hard work and respected that despite having three films releasing every year he had managed to give 95 jubilee hitsBut later in a way he replaced Khanna becoming the Angry Young Man of BollywoodIn an interview however Bachchan confessed that he had never expected to play lead roles He always thought he was not conventionally goodlooking and felt that he would never look as good as Rajesh Khanna the book saysThe book reveals Bachchan seeing Khannas photos in Filmfare often wondered Yaar ye aadmi kya khaata hai Iske gaal itne lal kaise hain What does this man eat How are his cheeks so redDespite being two of the leading actors in Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan in a rare interview had revealed that the duo never bickered argued or tried to upstage one another in any manner on the sets of Anand or Namak HaraamOn the contrary when Bachchan was working in Calcutta now Kolkata and was keen to join films his inspiration was KhannaHe recalled how happy he had been when Hrishikesh Mukherjee asked him to work with Rajesh Khanna in Anand It was a dream come true for himBachchan remained a modest admirer of the late actor throughout his career as he would always admit his fame was purely because he was working with Khanna And the admiration wasnt onesidedAfter seeing Bachchan in Namak Haraam at a trial at Liberty cinema Khanna knew his time was up Here is the superstar of tomorrow he had told Hrishikesh MukherjeeExcellence The Amitabh Bachchan Way a biographical work on Bachchan by Rupa publications releases on his 75th birthday