Waheeda Rehman & Kader Khan Movies Together List — 5 Films

The shape of the work

The 1980s account for 80% of everything they made together. The 1970s belonged to Mr. Natwarlal; the 1980s to Coolie. Waheeda Rehman acted in every film; Kader Khan acted in all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Waheeda Rehman was a top star in the 1960s. Kader Khan was a character actor in the 1980s. They only shared screen space because producer K.C. Bokadia cast them together in three films back-to-back — Coolie, Himmatwala, and Maqsad — as a deliberate mix of old-school grace and new-school villainy.
• In Himmatwala (1983), Waheeda played the mother of the hero (Jeetendra). Kader played the villain. Their one-on-one confrontation scene — where she slaps him — was shot in a single take because Kader insisted it would look more real if she actually hit him. She did. Hard. He later said the slap left a mark for two days.
• In Coolie (1983), Waheeda played a mother again, but this time Kader played a comic sidekick. Their scenes together had zero drama — just light banter. Kader later admitted he was nervous acting opposite a legend like Waheeda, so he deliberately kept his dialogue delivery low-key to let her maternal warmth carry the scene.
• Kader Khan had written dialogue for Waheeda’s earlier films (like the 1975 hit Zakhmi Aurat) before he ever acted with her. When they finally shared screen in Coolie, he told her on set: “Main aapke liye dialogue likhta tha, ab aapke saath bol raha hoon.” She laughed and said, “Tab bhi aap mere dialogue bol rahe the.”
• Kader Khan once said in an interview: “Waheeda ji ke saath kaam karna matlab school jaana. Unki ek aankh ka ishaara mujhe bata deta tha ki mera scene galat hai.” (Working with Waheeda ji is like going to school. One glance from her told me my scene was wrong.)