'This film will flop': Mahesh Bhatt cried after hearing this, but after release, film ran in theatres for 50 weeks, film is..., lead actor was...

India.com

21-05-2025

The first ever Indian to be called a superstar in Bollywood was no one else but Rajesh Khanna. Fondly called Kaka by his fans and loved ones, Rajesh Khanna made his debut in the 1966 film Aakhri Khat, which was India's first official Academy Awards entry in 1967. With his first film, Rajesh made a name for himself in the industry. However, in 1969, there came a film that was announced to be a flop. It featured Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz in the lead role.
However, while everyone thought that the film was a flop, it did completely the opposite. The film ran on the big screens for 50 weeks. If you are wondering which film we are talking about, then the movie in discussion is Do Raaste.
Directed and produced by Raj Khosla, the film Do Raaste was based on Marathi writer Chandrakant Kakodkar's novel Nilambar. The movie Do Raaste clashed with Rajesh Khanna's other film Aaradhana. When both the films were on the big screen, Vaman Bhosle and Mahesh Bhatt were at Bombay's Royal Opera House.
A report by Times of India reveals that the writer of the biography Amborish Roy Chowdhury writes in the book, 'A manager named Desai came to Bhatt and Bhonsle and told them that Aaradhana is housefull whereas Do Raaste had no audience and probability is there that the movie will be a flop.' Upon listening to this, Mahesh, who was in his 20s, was left devastated and turned emotional, as he was extremely attached to the movie.
The crisply-written book titled Raj Khosla: The Authorized Biography also reveals that the film originally ended with some 'touching lines about the mother-son relationship,' which did not go well with the audience.
After this, Raj approached actress Sadhana, with whom he did four films. 'Over the years, she had become a confidante and a sounding board. He showed her his films, and she told him what she felt,' writes Roy Chowdhury.
Sadhana suggested ending the film with a clip of the song 'Bindiya Chamkegi,' which later became the No. 1 track on the radio countdown show Binaca Geetmala in 1971.
Do Raaste 'ran for more than 50 weeks at the same Opera House where the staff had written the film off.'