Kohli was having a hard time getting Rekha and Reena to work together in this movie.
Nagin was directed by Rajkumar Kohli and produced under the banner of Shankar Movies
Bollywood has seen numerous multi-starters over the last several decades, and the fans have loved them all. From hits like Sholay, Chupke Chupke, Amar Akbar Anthony to Hum Saath Saath Hain, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Dil Chahta Hai to name a few, all such movies have ruled the box office. With multiple stars in a single film, the audience gets attracted to the movie as it is so much fun for the viewers to see all of them together. But, at times, it becomes a big trouble for the director to handle all of them. Something similar happened with director Rajkumar Kohli during the shooting of his film Nagin.
Rajkumar Kohli brought the multi-starrer film Nagin in 1976. The movie starred an ensemble cast including Reena Roy, Sunil Dutt, Feroz Khan, Sanjay Khan, Rekha, Mumtaz, Vinod Mehra, Yogeeta Bali, Kabir Bedi, Anil Dhawan and Jeetendra. However, Kohli was having a hard time getting Rekha and Reena to work together in this movie.
This film gave Reena Roy a different place in the Bollywood film industry. In other words, this was the golden phase of Reena Roy’s career, she appeared in back-to-back super hit films and received immense love from the audience. Along with this, the actress also gave tough competition to Rekha during this time. Rekha was an established artist at that time. When she was cast in Nagin, along with Reena Roy, she did not want to appear less than Reena in the film.
In the film, Reena Roy played the titular role. The entire focus was on her. But Rekha did not like the idea of playing the second fiddle to Reena. There was a song in the movie titled Tere Ishq Ka Mujh Pe Hua Yeh Asar Hai sung by Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi. According to reports, the cost of the dress given to Rekha for the song was less than that of Reena. When Rekha got to know this, she got angry about this and lashed out at the director. Rajkumar Kohli immediately requested the producer to change the outfit.
Later, Rekha again got angry when the producer said that everything was ready. She gave an ultimatum that she would not shoot the song unless the dress was changed. After observing her attitude, the entire crew folded their hands in front of Rekha. Sunil Dutt was surprised to see this attitude of Rekha. The director eventually changed Rekha’s outfit, and the song was shot.
Nagin was made under the banner of Shankar Movies. The movie was a blockbuster at the box office and was the highest-grossing film of 1976. The movie was inspired by François Truffaut’s 1968 French film The Bride Wore Black, which was based on Cornell Woolrich’s 1940 novel of the same name. The film was later remade in Tamil as Neeya (1979).
