invariably late i would sometimes report around 12 noon maybe even 1230 pm for a 9 am shift but i had a very sharp memory still do so i would read my lines and finish my takes in one go that way we would finish even before time i was a onetake artiste if another take was required on an odd occasion i would tweak it slightly so that the filmmaker had the option to choose the better one no producer could ever blame me for a films delay which explains how i have done 1011 films with manmohan desai and 13 films with harmesh malhotra why else would these producers repeat me do you know i was offered sholay deewar satte pe satta and achanak toothree of those four films eventually went to amitabh bachchan was that what caused friction between you twonot at all all these things keep happening someone might be the first choice for a role but it eventually goes to someone else perhaps the makers at some point realise that some other actor would be better for a role or at times i couldnt have taken a film due to date issues which was the case with sholay i think the character of jai was one of the last ones to be cast ramesh sippy was very keen that i do it but i just couldnt accommodate the film such things dont spoil relations even today ramesh sippy and i are on very good termsso what caused the friction between amitabh bachchan and youits the price you pay for stardom i have nothing against amitabh i hold him in very high esteem and have only love affection and regards for him yet if someone asks i say chhodo kal ki baatein kal ki baat purani naye daur mein likhenge milkar nayi kahani dont talk about the past lets begin afreshrajesh khanna and you also had a fallout of sortsyes rajesh was very upset when i contested against him in a byelection honestly i didnt want to but couldnt refuse l k advani ji i tried explaining this to rajesh but he did not like it we didnt speak for quite a long time however we did start talking after many years i wanted to go and apologise to him when he was in the hospital and hug him but sadly he passed away before i could do thatwhat happened with achanakproducer nc sippy wanted me i still dont understand why they called me to their place in juhu at 6 am every morning for nearly one month to discuss the film if they were not going to cast me we used to play badminton as well its the same plot where now amitabhs bungalow jalsa stands i dont know what happened and why they didnt go ahead with me how was your equation with vinod khanna and shashi kapoorvinod khanna was reserved and professional shashi was a very jovial person once shashi had jokingly come