When Kamal Haasan and Rati Agnihotri had an ugly fight during Ek Duuje Ke Liye: ‘Saw a woman get out of his room at 4am’ – Times of India

Kamal Haasan and Rati Agnihotri are a memorable on-screen pair for their iconic movie ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye‘ which released in 1981. But did you know that while filming this love story, this duo never really bonded with each other. At that point in time, while Kamal was an established actor, Rati was a newcomer. Things got ugly further between them, when Rati passed a sly comment about Kamal in an interview.
According to reports and sources present on the sets of the film, Rati and Kamal did not get along due to ego issues. A source was quoted saying in those days, “It was all due to ego issues. You see, Kamal Haasan was already a veteran actor of many acclaimed performances when he made his Hindi debut. Rati was a raw newcomer. And she was expected to behave like a pupil at the ‘Kamal Haasan School’ of acting. Moreover, Kamal was very close to Balachander. He had already done the Tamil version of Ek Duuje Ke Liye with the director. So perhaps rightfully, Kamal came to the locations of the Hindi remake with a know-all attitude.”
At that point in time, Kamal Haasan was married to Vani Ganapathy but was often linked to many women. A veteran journalist, T Bharathwaj, who often wrote about Kamal in his magazine, interviewed his then-wife, who expressed anger towards him. He was reportedly dating Sarika at that point who later got pregnant. At that time, many journalists wrote about Kamal’s philandering ways with women.
It was then that Rati made a sly remark about him in an interview. She said that during the shoot of Ek Duuje Ke Liye, she heard sex noises from Kamal’s room and saw a woman getting out of his room at 4am. She further revealed there were only three women on the outdoor set of the film – Rati herself, Shubha Khote and Madhavi.
Since Shubha Khote was already married and had kids and Rati already hated Kamal, all fingers pointed towards Madhavi, after this interview. Much later, Kamal had reacted to Rati’s comment in an interview with Cineblitz. He had said, “If Rati said she heard noises, she must have been in my bedroom because the only woman I had sex with in those days was my wife Vani.”
Kamal and Rati clearly couldn’t stand each other. Ironically, Kamal and Sarika’s daughter Akshara Haasan was dating Rati’s son Tanuj Virwani. They were dating for about 4 years before they broke up. Tanuj had spoken about their break-up in an interview with Siddharth Kannan and said, “Sometimes when you lose respect for your partner, and you don’t take a stand for them when you have to, then I may forgive but not forget. In that case, I don’t have to be friends. We are happy in our respective space.”