Subhash Ghai’s 1991 directorial Saudagar is a poignant tale of friendship, love, and rivalry set against the backdrop of a small village. It brought together a stellar cast of Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar for the first time on the big screen and created a memorable cinematic experience for the audience. While Saudagar went on to become a classic Bollywood film, Govind Namdev felt robbed him of his glory as Subhash Ghai removed his character from the final cut.
Revealing the details about his role, Govind told Lehren Retro when he got the role, it was quite big and then later Ghai chopped off the entire role. By then, he had already told the entire world that I was working with big personalities like Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar and Subhash Ghai.
He further shared that the shoot was also done but he did not get a call from Ghai for dubbing also while they called other actors to dub for their parts. He said that his role was pivotal as the film started with his character in the flashback and ended with it and also appear in pivotal moments.

Govind further revealed that since Ghai had made a four-and-a-half-hour-long film and had to chop off portions to make it shorter, someone suggested to him that he should get rid of his character and jump straight into the story. “I was in a lot of trauma then,” he said.

The veteran actor added that Ghai never spoke to him about it. “I never worked with him again. Neither did he call me, nor did I go to him for any work. If he had, then it would have been nice but I understand people’s limitations as well,” Govind shared, adding that he has blacklisted certain directors.