Shammi Kapoor increased his fees from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh when Dharmendra tried to negotiate with him during Sunny Deol's 'Betaab'

Sunny Deol made his debut with 'Betaab' which saw him along with Amrita Singh. Dharmendra started a production house, Vijeta Films, just to launch his son Sunny. The movie was directed by Rahul Rawail and also starred Shammi Kapoor in a supporting role. Did you know that Dharmendra had tried to negotiate Shammi's fees for the film, as he found it on the higher side. This was more than 40 years ago as 'Betaab' had released in 1983. At that point in time, Kapoor had quoted Rs 3 lakh to do the film.


Director Rahul Rawail had shared memories of 'Betaab' and revealed how Shammi increased his fees, during a chat with Jagran. Rawail said, "I had already spoken to Shammi Kapoor about Betaab. At that time, he asked for Rs 3 lakh for the film and I told Bikramjeet about it. He thought this was too much and asked Dharmendra to negotiate a bit.”

It was quite awkward for Dharmendra to negotiate on the money with a veteran like Shammi. However, he still did it. In response to that, Kapoor increased the fees more as a penalty as he did not like to negotiate on his money. Rawail added, "He first spoke to Shammi ji about the film and then brought up money. Shammi Kapoor instantly said Rs 5 lakh. Everyone was puzzled because they were wondering ‘how did Shammi ji go from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh?'”

Rawail also said, "Shammi ji smiled and said that ‘think of this as your penalty’. And Dharam ji had to agree. In a way, this was a way of showing respect to Shammi ji. Actually, Shammi Kapoor did not like negotiating with producers but he knew how to get his way with them,”

'Betaab' turned out to be a blockbuster when it released and made Sunny into a star.