New Delhi: In the winter of 1969, a tornado named Rajesh Khanna barrelled through India. Two films created Hindi cinema's first superstar: Shakti Samanta’s Aradhana, shortly followed by Raj Khosla’s Do Raaste.

But the first few days of Do Raaste were uncertain at the box-office. Mahesh Bhatt, a young “production hand” in the film, wept bitterly over the film’s grim prognosis, says a forthcoming biography of Raj Khosla, whose 100th birth anniversary falls on May 31.

Khosla had already delivered superhits in a variety of genres: thriller CID (1956), suspenseful Woh Kaun Thi? (1964) and romantic drama Do Badan (1966) underlining his ability as an all-rounder. But his last two ventures, Anita (1967) and Chirag (1969), hadn’t fared well. Debt collectors were at the door.

Do Raaste, which he produced and directed, was based on Marathi writer Chandrakant Kakodkar’s novel, Nilambari. When the film opened at Bombay’s Royal Opera House on December 5, 1969, editor Waman Bhonsle and Bhatt were at the theatre.

Biographer Amborish Roychoudhury writes in the book, “A manager by the name of Desai, came to Bhatt and Bhonsle and said, “Saamne woh Shakti ki picture chal rahi hai Aradhana, woh advance mein housefull hai. Yahan par log nahin aate. Picture doobegi.” (Shakti’s film Aradhana, playing across the road, is running to full house in advance booking. No one is coming here. This film will flop.)

“When he heard this, Bhatt broke down. Bhonsle had seen it all before, but the young Bhatt, all of 20, was emotionally attached to the film,” says the book, co-authored by Anita Khosla and Uma Khosla Kapur, both director’s daughters.

The crisply-written book titled, "Raj Khosla: The Authorized Biography,” also says that the film originally ended with some “touching lines about mother-son relationship” which wasn’t working too well with the audience.

Khosla reached out to heroine Sadhana, with whom he had worked in four films. “Over the years, she had become a confidante and a sounding board. He showed her his films, and she told him what she felt,” writes Roychoudhury.

Sadhana suggested ending the film with a clip of the track, “Bindiya Chamkegi”, which was to become radio countdown show, Binaca Geetmala’s No 1 song of 1971. Khosla carried out the change.

Do Raaste “ran for more than 50 weeks at the same Opera House where the staff had written the film off.” Debt collectors were paid. Khosla announced a bonus for some staff members. Bhatt’s bonus was Rs 300, equivalent to a month’s wage. “He gave me 300 bucks extra to me for shedding tears!,” the biography quotes Bhatt as saying.

Khosla passed away in 1991. In the foreword, Bhatt describes him as “My mentor. My master.”

Veteran film editor Waman Bhonsle whose career spanned four decades in Bollywood passed away yesterday due to age related issues. The National Award winning editor, who was in his late 80s worked on movies across 1960s to 1990s, including films like Do Raaste (1969), Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971), Parichay (1972), Mausam (1975), Aandhi (1975), Kalicharan (1976), Inkaar (1977), Karz (1980), Dostana (1980), Hero (1983), Saaheb (1985), Ram Lakhan (1989), Agneepath (1990), Saudagar (1991) and Ghulam (1998) among others.

Post the news break, the film fraternity was quick to post condolences and share memories on social media. Vikram Bhatt was one of the firsts to share a few words on social media about the man who was his friend, philosopher and guide. When BT reached out to the filmmaker, he said, “He is the first genius that I came across in the film industry. He was so good when it came to editing. He was my friend, philosopher and guide. He’s taught me so much. I was a Chief Assistant on Agneepath (1990) when I first met him. He took me under his wings. He taught me the finer points of film editing. That was the time when the process used to be different as there were no computers.”

About his top-notch editing skills, Vikram adds, “Once he saw a shot he would remember it well. He would know the exact number of frames he has used and the number of frames that were left. Like, if a director told him ki thoda shot badha do, he would say nahi frames nahi hai. If he said frames nahi hai, toh frames nahi hai. That would be the last word.”

After Vikram turned to direction, he continued to closely work with Waman but soon the latter made an exit. “He edited my films all the way till Ghulam (1998). Then, computers came in, however he didn’t want to take the leap. When I was making Kasoor (2001), I told him that I will hire a guy who he can sit with and do the editing. He said, ‘No, Vikram, if I cannot hold a film in my hand then I can’t edit it.' I missed him. There was a time when he used to be so busy with film projects that he used to give filmmakers 3-4 hours everyday. The who’s who have worked with him, right from Subhash Ghai, Raj Khosla, Shekhar Kapur, Mahesh Bhatt, Gulzar saab, Boney Kapoor, Mukul Anand, and the list is endless.”