Daaku

Basu Bhattacharya had just completed his latest film 'Daku' featuring Kabir Bedi and Anju Mahendroo. One working print was sent to Delhi by the producer for private screenings. The film came to me for tax exemption as I was the film expert on board the official committee of the Excise Department in the Delhi Administration. 'Daku' was based on a novelette written by the famed Punjabi writer Amrita Pritam. The writer did not charge any royalty because she had tremendous regard for Basuda as a film director. The film was issued a tax exemption for a period of one month after its first week's commercial run in Delhi. I had found the film worthy of the exemption.The film, however, was never released.Rajesh Khanna's fierce battle with Mahendroo led him to order the private confiscation of all films in the country featuring her. He even went so far as to declare that he would pay double the cost incurred to all filmmakers with rights over their films in which Anju Mahendroo had a role. He demanded that even lobby prints, posters, trailers and advertisement films et al featuring Mahendroo be handed to him or his representative. He paid for all the material seized. The film had to be re shot again with Bindu.