Jeetendra stated "Then came a film which once again set the ballrolling. DeviSharma wanted to boost Kumkum. He engaged P. L. Santoshi (Raj Kumar Santoshi's father) to direct the film andoffered the male lead to me. It was a black and white film. I didn't know
whether to accept or refuse. I had not much of a choice
though, so I eventually agreed. One day I went to Devi
Sharma's house. He was drunk. I said to him that after working
with Shantaramji, I wanted to do a film only with him. He felt
flattered and said that he would begin a new film with me with
a more famous costar and instead, get another hero for the P.
L. Santoshi film. But he put the onus of getting a good
heroine on me. And I knew just Rajshree. She naturally agreed
to work with me but she asked for Rs. 3.25 lakhs, while Devi
Sharma was prepared to pay her Rs. 3 lakhs. So I told the
production manager to pay her Rs. 25,000 from my share of Rs.
55,000. Now I was left with Rs. 30,000. Devi Sharma wanted to
hire a top music director. Once again he asked me to get him a
music director. I was friendly with Jaikishan (of the Shankar-
Jaikishan duo) and once again a difference in price threatened
to shelve the project. This time too, I parted with Rs. 25,000
from my share. That means, eventually, I did the film for just
Rs. 5,000. However, after Gunahon Ka Devta (that was the film)
I never looked back.
The original choice for the lead was Kumkum. Jeetendra did not want her because she was a B grade heroine. Jeetendra had to keep lowering his price to get the film completed. Since he wanted Rajshree for the film, he told the producer to lower his price to get Rajshree to sign the film. Eventually Jeetendra did the film for free.
There was a shelved film "Ek Tha Chander Ek Thi Sudha" starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Badhuri. That film was directed by C.P. Dixit and produced by Kailash Kapoor. The film was based on the novel Gunahon Ka Devta. (Not to be confused with the Jeetendra film by that same name.).