Rajesh KhannaRajesh Khanna

                            Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna  born: Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012,  was a actor, film producer and politician. Rajesh  was referred to as the "first superstar" and the "original superstar" of  .Rajesh   starred in 15 consecutive solo hit films in the period 1969-71. In 1974,  made a film on him, titled Bombay Superstar. he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of

Rajesh married  in March 1973. Their elder daughter  is married to actor  , while they also have a younger daughter .
Rajesh  appeared in a total of 180 films - 163 feature films and 17 short films.Rajesh  was the solo lead hero in 106 films Khanna won three  and was nominated for the same fourteen times. Rajesh the most  – four timesand nominated 25 times. In 1991, he was awarded the  for completing 25 years in the industry, and for appearing as the single lead hero in more films than any other male actor in Hindi films within 25 years of his debut. In 2005, he was awarded the . Khanna made his debut in 1966 .  had 35 Golden Jubilee Hits (which means the films ran for more than 50 weeks in theatres across India) in the period 1967–1975, three more in 76–78 and 35 more in the period 1979–1991. Rajesh  also had 22 silver jubilee hits (that is films ran in theatres for more than 25 weeks) in the period 1966–1991. Khanna was the highest paid Indian actor from 1970–87 where  shared the same tag with he from 1980–87. New Delhi constituency from 1992 to 1996.
 he died on 18 July 2012 . On April 30, 2013 he was officially bestowed with the title The First Superstar of Indian cinema at Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Awards, was released by  to honour him on 3 May 2013, a bronze statue of Rajesh  was unveiled at Bandra Bandstand, Mumbai.

-:Early life:-

Rajesh Khanna

Born on 29 December 1942, in  in Punjab, as Jatin Khanna, who were relatives of his biological parents after his father had migrated from  to Gali Tiwarian in the city of . His biological parents were Lala Hiranand and Chandrani  and Lala worked as headmaster of the MC High School in Burewala . he lived in Saraswati Niwas in Thakurdwar near , Mumbai and attended  there, along with his friend Ravi Kapoor. he gradually started taking interest in theatre and did a lot of .In 1962 he played a wounded dumb soldier in the play. he did his first two years of Bachelor of Arts in  in Pune from 1959 to 1961, Mumbai. he also tutored Jeetendra for his first film audition. Khanna's uncle KK Talwar changed Khanna's first name to Rajesh when  decided to join films. His friends and his wife called him Kaka.

                                -:Early career, 1966–1975:-

Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna was one of eight finalists in the 1965 All India Talent Contest organised by United Producers and Filmfare from more than ten thousand contestants. Subsequently, Khanna won the contest.Rajesh  made his film debut in the 1966 film  directed by , followed by  directed by Ravindra Dave both of which were a part of his predetermined prize for winning the All-India United Producers’ Talent Competition. G.P. Sippy and Nasir Hussain . Aakhri Khat was India’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 40th Oscar Academy Awards in 1967. he in an interview to Hindu newspaper said,"Though  is my first film, I received my first break as a leading actor in Ravindra Dave's, “Raaz” in 1967. My heroine was Bab, I was shy in facing the camera initially. In my first three shots, I had to perform with stress on my body language and dialogue delivery. Though I was right with my dialogues, my movements were not up to the mark. Ravindra Dave explained me my scenes and movements very clearly correcting my way of walking". Being under contract with United Producers, he got projects like Aurat, Doli and Ittefaq. Khanna was then noticed for his performances in films like  (1967), Doli, and . In case of Bahraon Ke Sapne. Later  suggested Asit Sen to take he for the lead role in Khamoshi. "instant national fame" and film critics referred to him as the first superstar of India. In that film, Rajesh  was cast in a double role (father and son) opposite  and . The film also saw the resurgence of Kishore Kumar, who eventually became the official playback voice of  Khanna. The Kishore Kumar-Rajesh Khanna combination worked miracles and it was almost impossible to see them as separate identities. They became a singer-actor duo and together they gave many songs till 1991.  Then in year 1971, he went to Salimsaab and said that Mr. Devar had given him a huge signing amount with which he could complete the payment for his bungalow . But the film's script was far from being satisfactory.  Khanna told us that if we could set right the script, he would make sure we got both money and credit." Rajesh bought Rajendra Kumar's bunglow named Dimple in Carter Road for 31 lakhs in 1970 and renamed it as Ashirwaad
Rajesh acted alongside  in eight successful films. They were neighbours and got along very well, which translated onto the screen. Mumtaz was quoted as saying "I would pull his leg and tease him about his fan following, there was a queue of 600 girls waiting to see him at midnight, even I would get some importance, as people would ask for my autograph as well. Rajesh was very generous with his associates, and would party a lot."
During the peak of his career he would be mobbed during public appearances, and lined the road, cheering and chanting his name. Female fans sent him letters written in their blood. Actor  parodied him in  where the driver and conductor of the bus were called 'Rajesh' and he'. Even today, he remains the favourite of mimicry artists, who copy his trademark style and dialogue delivery. During the filming of Amar Prem there was a scene that needed to be filmed at with a boat carrying  with Sharmila moving under the bridge. The authorities ruled this scene out as they realised that if the public found out that the hero of the film would be there, it may create problems on the bridge itself, and that it might collapse due to the amount of people trying to get a glimpse of their favourite actor. Film critic Monojit Lahiri remembers “Girls married themselves to photographs of Rajesh , there has never been such hysteria.”
Several songs sung by in the 1970s were based on  Khanna, Sharmila Tagore was shooting for a  film and director Shakti Samanta had to shoot their scenes separately and then join the scenes together. In the 1970s, his chemistry with Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Asha Parekh, Zeenat Aman and Hema Malini were also popular with audiences.
The BBC made a film on him, titled Bombay Superstar, in 1974. In the video it can be noticed that he was shooting for Aap Ki Kasam. A textbook prescribed by the  contained an essay, 'The Charisma of  Khanna!'.
Sharmila Tagore said in interview to  that "women came out in droves to see Kaka, they would marry his photographs, they would pull at his clothes. Delhi girls were crazier for him than Mumbai girls.Rajesh  needed police protection when he was in public."
Music remained one of the biggest attractions of all  Khanna films throughout his career,  and . The trio of  Khanna .
Rajesh  had 15 consecutive solo hit films between 1969 to 1971. Those 15 solo lead hero films were Aradhana, Doli, Bandhan, Ittefaq, Do Raaste, Khamoshi, Safar, The Train, Kati Patang, Sachaa Jhutha, Aan Milo Sajna, Mehboob Ki Mehendi.
he considered Guru Dutt, Meena Kumari and Geeta Bali as his idols. he dislosed in an interview," My inspirations include, Dilip Kumar's dedication and intensity, Raj Kapoor's spontaneity,

-:1976–1978:-

Rajesh Khanna

Between 1976 and 1978,he acted in 5 box office hits and in nine films that were not commercially successful. Seven of the unsuccessful films were  and , Din Dayal Sharma, Meraj,  and , respectively.  persuaded Samanta to cast his sister-in-law  opposite him in . Films starring Rajesh. The change from romantic and social movies to action -starrers caused the decline of he
he's career in terms of box office ratings to some extent. The declaration of emergency in India had angered the masses and this helped films having . Actor, a suspense thriller in 1977, which became the only successful film of his as a director and the unexpected success of the However, he continued basically in solo hero social sober household meaningful films during this era and played a variety of characters in films of various genres. During this phase too he had box office hits like  and .

                                     -:1979–1991:-

Rajesh Khanna

After 1978, Khanna starred in critically acclaimed commercially successful films such as  (from 1979–1991). Director  decided to remake his 1978 Tamil box office hit film "Sigappu Rojakkal" in Hindi with he playing the role of a psychopath. Haasan who played the same role in Tamil won South Filmfare Best Actor Award for his portrayal. But the Hindi movie was seen as controversial by traditional and orthodox , although he's performance has been rated later higher by critics than the original.
Tina Munim and Rajesh . Ram Awatar Agnihotri wrote that Tina Munim showed the first sparks of the dedicated actress she would become in the films "Alag Alag" and "Adhikar , Smita Patil, Padmini Kolhapure and Poonam  "Sundara Satarkar" in 1981.
he performed in successful multi-star films including, Paapi Pet Ka Sawaal Hai, an.Khanna did three movies with Jeetendra:  and . In 1984, Maqsad was the second-highest ranked film in terms of box office results, earning 8.5 crores. In. As per Guardian UK, he had 11 releases as solo lead hero in 11 films in the year 1985 and eight of them were hits. Before joining politics, one of his last films as the lead hero was  released in 1990. David Dhawan regards  as his favourite directorial venture.
He worked in films of different genres: tragedy in Babu as a rickshaw puller, thriller in Redrose as a psycopath, political adventure in Awam, fantasy in Bundalbaaz and Jaanwar,   Hum Dono and Masterji, action in Ashanti and Zamana, Naya Kadam, Akhir Kyun. Khanna did films of different themes like like reincarnation theme in Kudrat, spiritualism in Maalik, immaturity while falling in love like in Anokha Rishta, Nazrana and Dil E Nadan.Rajesh   played a variety of characters as the lead hero, a lawyer who proves that his senior has committed a rape 25 years earlier in Kudrat, a politician in Aaj Ka MLA Ram Avtaar, a professional advocate in Awaaz, a fisherman in Prem Bandhan, a patriot in Prem Kahanai, as a righteous farmer in Bandhan and as a Muslim who falls in love with a prostitute's daughter in Mehboob Ki Mehendi. Khanna shared a close relationship with  and , the first film produced by Rajesh without charging anything. In 1985 Pancham found himself being sidelined after failure of few films but  Khanna was among the few who continued to stand by him he . Khanna even helped Leena Gangully and Amit Kumar in completing Mamta Ki Chhaon Mein, the last film directed by Kishore who died before the completion of the film.
Pyarelal of  duo quoted in an interview . From the 1969 Do Raaste to the 1986 Amrit, we gave hits together both as films and as music scores.... When we went on our first overseas concert tour in 1984, he came and danced to three songs. Rajesh  was very particular about his music and would take a tape home if he could not assess a song. But if he liked a song at the sitting, he would loudly shout “Wah! Wah!” in appreciation…. It was God’s blessing that we came up with such a vast range of hit songs for him, including in his home productions Roti and films like  and . Incidentally, he had a stake in too. His music is dominated by Pancham (R.D. Burman) and us and we accepted Shakti Samanta’s Anurodh only because  Khanna had some misunderstanding with Pancham then and did not want to work with him, Kishoreda was very reluctant to sing "Waada Tera Waada" i and suggested Laxmikant Pyarelal to get it sung by Rafi. Then Laxmikant made Kishoreda meet  Khanna and he winked at Laxmikant and told Kishoreda that in that case the song should be scrapped. On hearing this Kishore immediately agreed to sing it by himself for he.
Actors who were part of the cast of most of his films include , Roopesh Kumar,  and , who remained part of his " working team" since the start until the late eighties . Films by  with he in the lead. The films Samanta directed without Khanna in the eighties were duds. His other close friends from the film industry include ,  , D. Rama Naidu and .
Celebrities of the post-2000 era, like Madhur Bhandarkar, say that they take at least three or four turns in Carter Road even today only to see Khanna. The younger generation stars like Imran Khan still regard  Khanna as someone who would take the top slot as the most romantic hero of all time. Shahrukh Khan idolises Rajesh  and has opined," Khanna you can’t touch". Anupam Kher said "Kishore Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, S. D. Burman, R. D. Burman, Rajesh." Actor Tom Alter confessed “I still dream of being  Khanna. For me, in the early 1970s, he was the only hero – romantic to the core, not larger than life, so Indian and real – he was my hero; the reason I came into films and he still is.” Actor Irrfan Khan stated in an interview,  " The trend of wearing guru kurtas and belt on shirts became famous in seventies and eighties because of he. Javed Akhthar told in an interview about his experience about Khanna's stardom "Bangalore used to have a state lottery and the government asked him to draw the lucky number. They organised it in a stadium. I don't know if I will experience that again, the sound of 50,000 people gasping when they saw him.  Khanna was like Caesar. It was unbelievable".

-:Later career, 1991–2012:-

Rajesh Khanna

From the early nineties, while serving as Congress. from 1991 to 1996, he returned to acting, playing the lead in  (1994), and After 1992, .  Khanna made a comeback as a  (1999), and  (2002) and played the solo lead in films Sautela Bhai in 1996, Pyar Zindagi Hai in 2001, Wafaa in 2008 and Riyasaat in 2013.  Rajesh did 4 television serials in the period 2000–2009.

                                           -:Television:-

Rajesh Khanna

Khanna was a life member of the International Film And Television Research Centre, the International Film And Television Club and the '. On 10 April 1999  Hyderabad as a tribute to Pancham. In 2001 and 2002, Rajesh played the lead in two television serials: Aapne Parai (B4U & DD Metro) and Ittefaq (Zee TV).Rajesh  performed in a video album based on Tagore's songs (Rabindra Sangeet) without payment. Khanna also endorsed Star se Superstar tak – a talent hunt programme in 2007 and donated a Gold Trophy of Rs.1 crore. In its Silver Jubilee Episode on 14–15 March 2008, K for Kishore aired a  Khanna special. Khanna  , with Leena Ganguly as his co-star. His successful TV serial  began in November 2008 and ended in September 2009. he cited the lack of good roles for actors like him in the films as the reason for him not appearing much in films after 2001, "The reach of TV is much , the fan making company endorsed he as Brand Ambassador for their new ad campaign featuring him in solo advertisements.

-:Political and business career:-

Rajesh Khanna

At the insistence of Rajiv Gandhi, he started campaigning for Congress since 1984. In the election for New Delhi seat in the 1991 Lok Sabha election, he lost to L.K. Advani by a narrow margin of 1589 votes after which he stood on the ground at the counting station insisting that .As controversey erupted Advani had to vacate the constituency and a by-election took place and he won the same seat in 1992 by defeating Shatrughan Sinha by 25,000 votes, retaining his seat until the 1996 after which he , he did not accept new acting assignements but only acted in the film Khudai(1994) .
he  and a group of foreign investors bought land in on which they planned to build a religious resort for disciples of .

                                   -:Personal life:-

Rajesh Khanna

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he fell in love with the then fashion designer and actress . They were in a relationship for seven years. Mahendru states that the couple did not speak to each other for 17 years after the break-up. Later he married the budding actress  in March 1973. In the eighties  was romantically involved with Khanna while working with he in 11 movies from 1980-87. Munim had been a fan of Rajesh since her school days. he and Kapadia however maintained an amicable relationship where they both were seen together at parties and family functions together. Kapadia also campaigned for he's election and worked in his film  (1990).
 , is married to a London-based investment banker Samir Saran.On 17 July 2012, a woman named Anita Advani claimed that she had been he's live-in partner, and sent a legal notice to his family members asking for compensation. The family denied the claims.

-:Illness and death:-

Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna's funeral procession held in  on 19 July 2012.

In June 2012, it was reported that Rajesh 's health had been deteriorating for some time, On 23 June he was admitted to  in Mumbai due to health complications. Rajesh was discharged on 8 July from the hospital and was reportedly fine.
On 14 July, Khanna was readmitted to the Lilavati Hospital but was discharged on 16 July, Aashirwad, in Mumbai. Sources confirmed that his health was deteriorating since July 2011 as he was diagnosed with cancer. After his death his co-star Mumtaz said that Khanna was suffering from cancer since a year and had undergone chemotherapy sessions. His funeral took place on 19 July at 11:00, California, Singapore and from other foreign countries Police had resort to lathi-charge to control the crowd of fans who had gathered for the procession from Khanna's Bandra house to crematorium, grand children, Anju Mahendru and other close relatives. His pyre was lit by his grandson , friends and fans which was played on his "chautha" he thanked and saluted his friends and fans for the love they showered on him. On 25 July 2012, his ashes were immersed in  by his wife  and daughter .

                                         -:Reactions:-

Rajesh Khanna

Following his death, there was a quick spate of reactions from within the Bollywood fraternity.
The  Pratibha Patil condoled the passing away of the actor. In a press release she said " . In his prime as an actor he was the heartthrob of the young generation of 1970s, who tried to model themselves on him and his style." added  , his dialogue "Arrey oh baabu mushoy hum to rangmanch ki kathputliyan hain jiski dor us upar wale ke haathon main hai kab, kaun kahan uthega ye koi nahin janta" is so poignant today."
 Ranjeet, Jeetendra, Rakesh Roshan, Yash Chopra, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Vinod Khanna, Asrani, Prem Chopra, Salman Khan, organised in a grand way at the Taj Land’s End hotel in Bandra, on 21s July,2012 was attended by many including Reena Roy, Padmini Kolhapure, Neelam, Jaya Prada, Bindu, Poonam Dhillon, Neetu Kapoor, Jaya Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Ranbir Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborthy, Shakti Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Suresh Oberoi, Parmeshwar Godrej, Tabu, Jackie Shroff.
 reacted on Twitter in writing. Play with abandon, choose with no regret. Smile and made us do the same. Sir, you defined our era. Whenever life felt tough u made us feel how love could change it all. RIP." but was happy that she had met the ailing Khanna in Mumbai in June 2012. While  also wrote on Twitter: "RIP to the 1st king of romance ... Rajesh Khanna."  added that he"was the powerhouse of Hindi film industry. I met him on the sets of , he had some kind of energy and you will be charged when he is around you. His name will be written in golden words."  wrote on Twitter that "as another of Hindi cinema's giants passes, Rajesh Khanna. Our sincere condolences to his family. We will miss him dearly."  wrote on Twitter: "The word 'superstar' was invented for him, and for me it shall ever remain his, and no others .. !!His generation and the generations that follow, or understand his phenomena .. !!". We are in shock right now." His son-in-law Akshay Kumar told reporters about his death and added that "he has gone to a nice and heavenly place. I am happy that he has gone there and hope that everyone will pray for him."
 commented that "his death is a big loss to the industry. I remember when he came to Chennai for some film shoot the college girls went crazy to catch a glimpse of him when he was going to his studio."  recollected how Khanna had wanted to cast him in one of his films, but the latter could not manage due to date problems. "We had met several times. Once I had wanted to cast him in one of my films but somehow that didn't work out due to his date problems."
  " Khanna was a great actor and was the first superstar.Rajesh  was a much bigger star than . His acting will continue to inspire young actors of the coming generations." said: "In the film 'Anand', Khanna delivered some of Indian cinema's most memorable dialogues. The use of the word 'babu moshai' for Amitabh Bachchan, who played a Bengali doctor in the film, is so deeply etched in the minds of Indians that it has almost become a synonym for Bengalis for the rest of the countrymen. "In a dhoti and kurta, you showed the rest of India how truly elegant Bengal wa, "The epitome of superstardom is no more amongst us. There was none, there is none and there won't be any like you kakaji."
Film historian S. M. M. Ausaja added: "Rajesh  never acted in a . But right from the late 1960s to the 70s he was the top star and worked with the top directors of his era, most of whom were Bengalis. There were also reactions from the Gali Tiwaria where the his ancestral house was, and had since been converted to a temple through his donation. Songs from his movies were played as the news of his death became known.  "he used to love to play cricket when he lived here.Khanna was a simple boy when he lived here and led a simple life even after achieving so much." As were the residents of , Pakistan.
Additionally, "convey s my heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved family and countless fans and admirers of Shri Rajesh Khanna." INC President  also expressed her sorrow. Regional political leaders who offered their condolences included   who said: " Khanna was always a symbol of roma;" as well as Bihar Chief Minister  who added that "his death has caused irreparable loss to Hindi cinema."
 .   Khanna had a large fan following across the borders and captivated audiences with his excellent acting skills." Ali Zafar wrote on Twitter: Khanna – RIP. So many fond memories from his movies and songs," while  said: "Rajesh  was such a huge actor of the subcontinent that he will be remembered by the people for many years to come. "  also aired a nearly hour-long tribute with contributions from actors, filmmakers and musicians.

-:Awards:-

Rajesh Khanna

Main article: 

he won four Best Actor Awards in the Bengal Film Journalists' . Rajesh won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards, one Filmfare Special Guest Actor Award in 1973,Award in 1991, after 25 years in the Hindi film industry.  Khanna  received the Filmfare Life Time Achievement Award at the 50th anniversary Filmfare award ceremony in 2005