Veteran writer Ranbir Pushp has revealed that Kamal Haasan and Rati Agnihotri shot an entire film together without ever speaking to each other off camera, after Haasan’s objections to her casting went unheeded.In a conversation with Siddharth Kannan, Pushp shared that as the cast of the 1985 film Dekha Pyar Tumhara began to take shape, Haasan expressed interest in having Poonam Dhillon play the female lead. Pushp, however, had other ideas and decided to cast Rati Agnihotri opposite the Tamil actor. He said he approached Agnihotri’s father, who also managed her career as her secretary, and secured her for the role.Kamal Haasan, Ranbir Pushp said, did not take the news well but also didn’t make a scene of it: “When Kamal Haasan got the news that Rati Agnihotri had signed on, he didn’t react like, ‘Hey, why not take someone else?’ He was a pretty grounded guy.” The friction, however, showed up on set instead. Pushp said, “A few days later, we found out Kamal and Rati were not speaking with each other. So how was this film going to happen?”Also Read: ‘Too many underworld connections’: Kamal Haasan reveals why he abandoned Bollywood careerThat silence never broke for the length of the shoot. “Not once during the shoot did they say hi or hello to each other, yet they completed the film together. Watch the film, no one can say there was no communication between the two artistes. They didn’t even speak once,” the producer recalled.Ranbir Pushp also opened up about Kamal Haasan’s personal life during the same period, noting that the actor was then married to Vani Ganapathy. Their marriage, he said, lasted a decade before ending in divorce. According to Pushp, Haasan’s relationship with Sarika began while he was still married to Ganapathy and was initially kept largely out of the public eye. “Since he was married, the romance began quietly. Very few people knew about it,” he said.Also Read: Kamal Haasan’s 15-year dream turned into a Rs 300 cr disaster despite a GOAT at the helmStory continues below this adThe producer placed the beginning of that chapter around the timing of Haasan and Sarika’s first film together: “In 1984, Kamal Haasan did his first film with Sarika.” Looking back, he said the signs were visible even then to those on set. “When you met Sarika and Kamal Haasan then, everyone realised that this was the start, the start of love, because both of them would sit together in a corner.”