Actor Rajesh Kumar has led a quite an interesting life. After winning hearts with his roles in shows such as Baa Bahoo Aur Baby and Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, the actor quit showbiz to take up farming. However, after incurring huge losses in the agriculture industry, he returned to acting. In a recent interview, Rajesh Kumar recalled a painful anecdote from the past. This was when he was shooting for his 2001 show, Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya, with co-star Manohar Singh.

Recalling the incident, Rajesh Kumar told Dainik Bhaskar, “We had to shoot a nine-minute-long sequence. The shot went like: I am sitting in a bar drinking and my father comes. He sees me in that state, and slaps me. So far, I had never played an alcoholic, so to get into the character, I had a shot of brandy. We did rehearsals, and finally, we were shooting for the final shot. We were done with seven minutes of the sequence, the last two minutes were left, where I was supposed to get a slap.”

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He added, “Manohar ji slapped me so hard that a strange sound lingered in my ears for quite some time. The shot was over and the whole crew kept quiet. I couldn’t help but think, ‘Why did he hit me so hard?’ He quickly hugged me and said, ‘I am sorry, you must be hurt, I just slapped to make you understand that never drink while acting’. Then we had a walk, and he told me about the 11 traits of an alcoholic. I think it stayed with me. I understood the seriousness of the craft.”

Rajesh Kumar quit acting at the peak of his career after being struck by the thought: “What am I doing for the next generation?” He started farming in his village Gaya, Bihar. However, he made his acting comeback and featured in Jeetendra Kumar’s Kota Factory, where he played the role of a maths teacher. He also featured in the film Binny and Family, which marks the debut of Varun Dhawan’s niece, Anjini Dhawan. The film is currently running in theatres. He is also part of the Amazon MX Player series: Yeh Meri Family.

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