Hrishikesh Mukherjee stated : I took to the idea out of sheer defence. Ashok Kumar used to always joke that I had made so many films with him as a character artiste, but none as a hero. One day I phoned and told him, 'If you don't stop teasing me, Imight just end up making a hero out
of a buddha.' He laughed it off thinkingI was joking. I wasn't. The day I had the story of Aashirwad on hand, I told
Dadamoni that the time had come for the buddha to play hero. That's howAashirwad was born. Aashirwad won the National Award for the best film. Dadamoni received the best actor and the Bharat Ratna.