Anil Kapoor & Waheeda Rehman Movies Together List — 3 Films

The shape of the work

The 1980s belonged to Mashaal; the 2000s to Om Jai Jagadish. Anil Kapoor acted in every film; Waheeda Rehman acted in all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Waheeda Rehman was the one who suggested Anil Kapoor for the role of her son in Mashaal (1984). Director Yash Chopra had initially considered a bigger star, but Waheeda insisted on Anil after seeing his audition tape.
• In Lamhe (1991), Anil Kapoor played a man in love with Waheeda Rehman's character — but she played his mother in Mashaal (1984). That age-gap switch was intentional: Yash Chopra cast them together again specifically to play with the audience's memory of their first film.
• On the sets of Mashaal (1984), Waheeda Rehman would cook biryani for the entire crew every Friday. Anil Kapoor later said that ritual made him feel like he was working with his actual mother, not just an actress playing one.
• "She taught me that acting is not about shouting. It's about listening. I learned more from her in one scene of Mashaal than I did in my first five films." — Anil Kapoor, on working with Waheeda Rehman.
• Because of their pairing in Lamhe (1991), Yash Chopra went on to cast older actresses opposite younger heroes in two more films — a trend that eventually led to the casting of Sridevi opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Darr (1993).