Speaking to The Lallantop, Govind recalled how he landed the role, thanks to his National School of Drama batchmate Anupam Kher. He said, “I got a role in Saudagar due to my batchmate from NSD Anupam Kher. The film shooting had already begun and he would call me to the shoot. My guru Dilip Kumar was also in the film. I used to often go on the set of that film. Once they were talking about some role, and Anupam had suggested my name. So Subhash Ghai spoke to me about it. It was an important character and I was cast in the film.”
Although Govind was new to films at the time, he was already a well-known name in theatre circles when he was cast. Recalling that phase, he shared, “By this time, I had done a lot of theatre and made a name for myself. I shot for the film for two days and Subhash Ghai was very happy with my performance and praised me. I told everybody in my group that I am working with Dilip Kumar sahab, all my family and friends.”
Govind then recalled how he found out that his role had been removed entirely from the final cut. He said, “When the film’s dubbing was going on, I was waiting for them to call me to dub my part, but the dubbing ended. Subhash’s brother, who was a co-producer on the film, told me that the film was too long, it was 4.5 hours, and that is why my part was completely cut from the film.”
Sharing how deeply the setback affected him, the actor said, “I became numb after hearing this, and I just thought about how I have told everyone about this and how they take me as a serious actor. Meri kitni beizzati hogi. I was just shattered after that. I started drinking beer, would roam around and sit by the ocean. If my wife was not there, I might have committed suicide. It affected me so much. I used to cry a lot holding my wife.”
Govind also admitted that his relationship with Subhash Ghai soured permanently after the incident and that the two never spoke again. “I never spoke to Subhash Ghai after that. I started getting good films after that, so it became like a competition with him. He also never called and spoke to me,” he concluded.
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