When Osho tried to use Vinod Khanna to win back disenchanted Mahesh Bhatt, sent a warning: ‘He will destroy you’

The filmmaker recalled on actor Arbaaz Khan’s show The Invincibles how Vinod Khanna called him back to relay a message from Rajneesh. While the actor tried to unsuccessfully tell him that Rajneesh, who they referred to as Bhagwan, was quite upset and wanted him to return, Mahesh did not want to go back to that lifestyle.

Mahesh told Arbaaz, “I remember Vinod calling me to Filmistan [Studios], I’ve got something very important to talk to you. He said, ‘Bhagwan is very angry with you.’ I said why. ‘You broke the mala and put it in the commode.’ I said, ‘I broke it and put it there. It’s worthless. I’m a damn fool, it’s a dog collar.” ‘No, no, he says, ask Mahesh to bring back the mala and give it to me in person, otherwise.. (and Vinod dropped his voice) he will destroy you.'”

The filmmaker shared that while this did not affect his relationship with Vinod, he could see that Rajneesh was using the actor by praising him and putting him down. He added, “Rajneesh told Vinod, ‘I had worked so hard on Mahesh. He perhaps did not have in him what you have.’ So I said, ‘Oh my god, he’s using you against me. He’s telling you you’re something special.’ I’m too unimportant. I was a nobody at that time.

Many years later, Mahesh did finally sit down with Rajneesh for another long one and a half hours. But despite his best intentions to woo him back, the filmmaker said he was not falling for his words anymore. Mahesh said, “I was not the same. He was not the same. But when I got up, I discovered that he was not responsible for anything. I wanted to hear things that he told me. He was an entertainer, a wordsmith and a very successful, charismatic man. He provided comfort to people for a certain time. It became a kind of spiritual drug. Gurus have a social role to play, so do prostitutes. They fulfil some social need in people.”

While Mahesh hasn’t directed a film since Sadak 2 (2020), he is credited with the screenplay for several upcoming films including Jism 3 and Awarapan 2.