‘Tehelka’ was the first surgical strike film of Hindi cinema, Anil Sharma had to work hard in casting.

Mumbai: In today’s time, if we talk about films based on surgical strikes, then the names of films like ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’, ‘Fighter’, ‘Sky Force’ and ‘Border’ come first, but in the year 1992, Hindi cinema’s first film based on surgical strike, Tehelka, was made.

The name of the film was ‘Tehelka’, which, like its name, created a stir at the box office. This film was directed by Anil Sharma and the director is celebrating his 68th birthday on March 7. Anil Sharma gave many superhit films in his career, but the film ‘Tehelka’ was very special for him because many big multistars were seen in the film. Many big actresses including Dharmendra, Naseeruddin Shah, Mukesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor, Aditya Pancholi, Prem Chopra and Amrish Puri were also involved in the film. However, very few people know that casting the film was very difficult for the director.

Earlier, Rajinikanth was to play the character of Major Krishna Rao in the film. He had said ‘yes’ to the film but after the directors’ strike in South cinema, he was asked to shoot the film after June while the director had to shoot in snowfall. In such a situation, Rajinikanth withdrew his hands with a heavy heart, after which Mukesh Khanna enters the film.

Anil Sharma was fond of watching Mahabharata and at that time Mukesh Khanna, who became Bhishma Pitamah, had become famous in every house with his acting. His dialogue delivery also won the hearts of fans. In such a situation, the director chose Mukesh Khanna for the role of Major Krishna Rao and he won everyone’s hearts on the very first day of shooting.

Naseeruddin Shah also won the hearts of fans with his acting in the film, but very few people know why he said yes to doing the film. Naseeruddin Shah had given yes to the film without even listening to the script, because Dharmendra was in the film. He had told in an interview that working with Dharmendra is fun in itself and learning something new. Not only this, he was the first actor of Hindi cinema who did not refrain from wearing a swimsuit in the film. Understanding the demand of the scene, Javed Jaffrey and Aditya Pancholi had also decided to become girls by wearing swimsuits.

In the 90s, it was very difficult to convince the lead characters to do such filming on screen, but Naseeruddin Shah had said that when he can wear the torn clothes of a fakir for his character, then why not a bikini. It was because of the dedication of the actors that the film became a hit at the box office. Made with a budget of Rs 2 crore, Tehelka collected more than Rs 15 crore at the box office and became the fourth highest grossing film of the year.