Rajesh Khanna (born
Jatin Khanna on 29 December 1942) is an
Indian actor of from
Hindi films,
and has been Hindi film producer and an Indian politician.
Early life
Khanna was born in
Amritsar
on 29 December 1942. He was adopted and raised by foster parents who
were relatives of his biological parents. Khanna lived in Thakurdwar
near
Girgaon. Khanna attended St. Sebastian’s Goan High School in Girgaum, along with his friend Ravi Kapoor, who later took the stage name
Jeetendra. Their mothers were friends.
Khanna gradually started taking interest in theatre and did a lot of
plays in his school and college days and won many prizes in the inter
college drama competitions.
Khanna became a rare newcomer who struggled in his own
MG sports car to get work in theatre and films in the early sixties.
Both friends later studied in
Kishinchand Chellaram College(KC).
When Jeetendra went for his first film audition, it was Khanna who
tutored him. Khanna's uncle changed Khanna's first name to Rajesh when
Khanna decided to join films. His friends and his wife call him Kaka
.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Khanna fell in love with the then fashion designer and actress
Anju Mahendru.
They were in the relationship for seven years. Mahendru states that the
couple did not speak to each other for 17 years after the breakup.
Later Khanna married
Dimple Kapadia in 1973 and has two daughters from the marriage.
Khanna and Dimple Kapadia separated in 1984 as his schedule kept him
away much of the time and Dimple became interested in pursuing an acting
career,
and thereafter lived separately, but did not complete the divorce proceedings.
In the eighties
Tina Munim was romantically involved with Khanna till the time she decided to leave the industry to pursue her higher studies.
Years of separation brought about mutual understanding between Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia.
Reporter Dinesh Raheja stated that “the bitterness between Rajesh and
Dimple washed away", noting that they are seen together at parties and
that Dimple campaigned for Khanna's election and also worked in his
film.
Their elder daughter
Twinkle Khanna, an interior decorator and a former film actress, is married to actor
Akshay Kumar while their younger daughter
Rinki Khanna, also a former Hindi film actress,
is married to a London-based investment banker Samir Saran.
Career
(1966–1975)
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.
He made his film debut in the 1966 film
Aakhri Khat directed by
Chetan Anand, followed by
Raaz
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 were the first to sign Rajesh Khanna after he won the contest.
Khanna in an interview to Hindu newspaper said,"Though “Aakhri Khat” is
my first film, I received my first break as a leading actor in Ravindra
Dave's, “Raaz” in 1967. My heroine was Babita, already a popular
actress then. Though I had lots of confidence, 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.
He was then noticed for his performances in films like
Baharon Ke Sapne,
Aurat (1967), Doli,
Aradhana and
Ittefaq. Later
Waheeda Rehman suggested Asit Sen to take Khanna for the lead role in Khamoshi.
Through
Aradhana he rose to "instant national fame" and film critics referred to him as the first superstar of India.
In that film, Rajesh Khanna was cast in a double role (father and son) opposite
Sharmila Tagore and
Farida Jalal.
The film also saw the resurgence of Kishore Kumar, who eventually
became the official playback voice of Rajesh 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, Haathi Mere Saathi became the biggest hit and also
became the biggest grosser ever till then.Khanna is also credited with
giving Salim Akhtar and Javed Akhtar their first chance to become
screenplay writers by offering them work in Haathi Mere Saathi.
Javed Akhthar accpeted in an interview "One day, 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 Aashirwad. But the film's
script was far from being satisfactory. He told us that if we could set
right the script, he would make sure we got both money and credit."
Rajesh acted alongside
Mumtaz in eight successful films.
They were neighbours and got along very well, and as a result they
shared a great on-screen chemistry. After Khanna married, Mumtaz decided
to marry millionaire Mayur Madhwani in 1974. At the time, she was doing
three films Aap ki Kasam, Roti and Prem Kahani with Khanna. She decided
to quit movies only after completing these films. When she left films
Khanna felt very lost. In one of her interviews, Mumtaz was quoted
saying "I would pull his leg and tease him about his fan following.
Whenever Rajesh entered a hotel in
Madras,
there was a queue of 600 girls waiting to see him at midnight. As a
result, even I would get some importance, as people would ask for my
autograph as well. He was very generous with his associates, and would
party a lot."
During the peak of his career he would be mobbed during public
appearances. Fans kissed his car, which would be covered with lipstick
marks, and lined the road, cheering and chanting his name. Female fans
sent him letters written in their blood.
There used to be a line of cars of his producers and hysterical fans outside his bungalow every day. Actor
Mehmood parodied him in
Bombay to Goa
where the driver and conductor of the bus were called 'Rajesh' and
'Khanna'. 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
Howrah Bridge
with a boat carrying Khanna with Sharmila moving under the bridge. The
authorities ruled this scene out as they realized 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 Khanna, cutting their fingers and applying the
blood as sindoor. Rajesh was God, there has never been such hysteria.”
Several songs sung by
Kishore Kumar
in the 1970s were based on Rajesh Khanna. During the filming of the
song 'Mere Sapnon Ki Rani' in Aradhana, Sharmila Tagore was shooting for
a
Satyajit Ray film and director Shakti Samanta had to shoot their scenes separately and then join the scenes together.
The BBC made a film on him, titled Bombay Superstar, in 1974, the
shooting for which began the same time when he got married and his film
Daag premiered.
In the video it can be noticed that Khanna was shooting for Aap Ki Kasam. A textbook prescribed by the
Bombay University contained an essay, 'The Charisma of Rajesh Khanna!'.
Sharmila Tagore said in interview to India Express, “Women came out
in droves to see Kaka (Khanna). They would stand in queues outside the
studios to catch a glimpse, they would marry his photographs, they would
pull at his clothes. Delhi girls were crazier for him than Mumbai
girls. He needed police protection when he was in public. I have never
seen anything like this before and since.”
Music remained one of the biggest attractions of all Rajesh Khanna
films throughout his career. Many of the musical scores for Khanna's
films were composed by
Sachin Dev Burman,
R.D. Burman and
Laxmikant-Pyarelal. The trio of Rajesh Khanna,
Kishore Kumar and
R.D. Burman went on to make a number of popular films, including
Kati Patang,
Amar Prem,
Shehzada,
Apna Desh,
Mere Jeevan Saathi,
Aap Ki Kasam,
Ajnabee,
Namak Haraam,
Maha Chor,
Karm,
Phir Wohi Raat,
Aanchal,
Kudrat,
Ashanti,
Agar Tum Na Hote,
Awaaz,
Hum Dono and
Alag Alag.
Rajesh Khanna had 15 consecutive solo superhits between 1969 to 1972, which is still an unbroken record in Indian film history.
The commercial success of his films declined during 1976–78.In
calculation of the 15 films, 2 hero films like Maryada,Andaz and films
with box office result as hits were excluded -Mere Jeevan Saathi, Choti
Bahu and Shehzada.
Khanna considered Guru Dutt, Meena Kumari and Geeta Bali as his
idols.Khanna dislosed in an interview," My inspirations include, Dilip
Kumar's dedication and intensity, Raj Kapoor's spontaneity, Dev Anand's
style and Shammi Kapoor's rhythm."
1976–1978
Between 1976 and 1978, Khanna acted in nine films that were not
commercially successful. Seven of these were rated highly by critics
upon their release and have achieved strong cult status over the years
among the viewers and these films included
Mehbooba,
Bundal Baaz,
Tyaag,
Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein,
Naukri,
Chakravyuha and
Janata Havaldar which were directed by
Shakti Samanta,
Shammi Kapoor, Din Dayal Sharma, Meeraj,
Hrishikesh Mukherjee,
Basu Chatterjee and
Mehmood Ali, respectively. Khanna persuaded Samanta to cast his sister-in-law
Simple Kapadia opposite him in
Anurodh.
Films starring Rajesh Khanna and directed by Shakti Samanta tended to be commercially successful, but
Mehbooba was an exception.
K. Balachander then remade his film
Arangetram in Hindi as
Aaina
with Mumtaz in the lead and Khanna in a cameo appearance in 1977. This
film was also unsuccessful. The change from romantic and social movies
to action oriented multi-starrers caused the decline of Khanna'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
the lead character revolting against corruption becoming success.
Actor Joy Mukherjee made
Chhailla Babu, a suspense thriller in 1977, which became the only successful film of his as a director
and the unexpected success of the
Chhailla Babu gave a boost to the career of Khanna.
However, Khanna 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
Maha Chor,
Chhailla Babu,
Anurodh and
Karm.
(1979–present)
After 1978, Khanna starred in critically acclaimed commercially successful films
such as
Amardeep,
Phir Wohi Raat,
Bandish,
Thodisi Bewafaii,
Dard,
Kudrat,
Dhanwan,
Avtaar,
Agar Tum Na Hote,
Souten,
Jaanwar,
Asha Jyoti,
Awaaz,
Naya Kadam,
Hum Dono,
Babu,
Aaj Ka M.L.A. Ram Avtar,
Shatru,
Insaaf Main Karoonga,
Anokha Rishta,
Nazrana,
Angaarey,
Adhikar (1986) and
Amrit. Director
Bharathiraja decided to remake his 1978 Tamil box office hit film "Sigappu Rojakkal" in Hindi with Khanna playing the role of a psychopath.
Kamal 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 Hindi moviegoers and was not a commercial success, although
Khanna's performance has been rated later higher by critics than the
original.
Tina Munim and Rajesh Khanna became the leading on and off screen couple of the 80’s with hits like
Fiffty Fiffty,
Suraag,
Souten, Aakhir Kyun,
Bewafai,
Insaaf Main Karoonga and
Adhikar(1986).
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", both with Khanna.
He also acted in the Marathi hit film "Sundara Satarkar" in 1981.
He has performed in the least number of multi-starrer films in
comparison to his contemporaries and portrayed the central character in
the few multistarrers he acted. Khanna delivered multi-starrer superhits
like
Rajput,
Dharam Aur Kanoon,
Zamana,
Dil-E-Nadan,
Ashanti,
Awam (film) and
Ghar Ka Chiraag. He did three potboiler movies with Jeetendra, which were blockbusters-
Dharam Kanta,
Nishaan and
Maqsad.
Aaj Ka M.L.A. Ram Avtar
is one of the memorable political films of Rajesh Khanna. Khanna played
the character of a corrupt politician in this film. Viewers praised his
role in the film.
The year 1985 saw him turn a producer with
Alag Alag. Eleven films, with Khanna in the lead, released in 1985 and seven of these became hits
and in addition had three films with him in special appearance.
Before joining politics one of his last films as the lead hero was
Swarg released in 1990. David Dhawan regards
Swarg
as his most favorite directorial venture and said in an interview "
Swarg did well. Though a serious film, people even today talk about it
as it struck a chord. I was working with Rajesh Khanna for the first
time. I shared a good rapport with him. He never threw tantrums on the
sets."
He experimented with films of different genres like tragedy in Babu
as a rickshaw puller, thriller in Redrose as a psycopath, political
adventure in Awam, negative roles in Dhanwan and Redrose, fantasy in
Bundalbaaz and Jaanwar, crime in Phir Wohi Raat and Angarey, suspense in
Chakravyuha and Iteefaq, comedy in Hum Dono and Masterji, action in
Ashanti, family dramas like Aanchal and Amrit and Agar Tum Na Hote,
variety of social films like Avtaar, Naya Kadam, Akhir Kyun and with
different themes like reincarnation theme in Kudrat, patriotism in Prem
Kahani, immature young love theme handled in different ways in films
like Anokha Rishta, Nazrana and Dil E Nadan and did college romance in
Bandish. He has played variety of characters as the lead hero – as a
postman in Palkon Ki Chaon Mein, as a lawyer who proves that his senior
has committed a rape 25 years earlier in Kudrat, as a politician in Aaj
Ka MLA Ram Avtaar , as a young musician forced by fate to marry two
women in Asha Jyoti, as professional advocate in Awaaz, fisherman in
Prem Bandhan, a revolutionary patriot who is torn apart by love and
policeman like in Prem Kahanai, as a righteous farmer in Bandhan etc.
He shared a very close relationship with
R.D. Burman and
Kishore Kumar. The trio were very close friends and have worked together in more than thirty films.
Work of Pancham with Khanna is regarded as legendary and far superior than any other actor-music director combinations.
The king of playback singing Kishore Kumar had even credited Rajesh Khanna for his resurgence, so much so that he sang for
Alag Alag, the first film produced by Rajesh Khanna without charging anything.
In 1985 Pancham found himself being sidelined after failure of few
films but Rajesh Khanna was among the few who continued to stand by him.
Rajesh and
Pancham worked together even after the death of Kishore in the films
Jai Shiv Shankar, the unreleased film Police Ke Peechhe Police (both produced by Khanna ) and
Sautela Bhai.
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.
Actors who were part of the cast of most of his films include
Ashok Kumar,
Sujit Kumar,
Prem Chopra,
Madan Puri,
Asrani,
Bindu,
Vijay Arora,
Roopesh Kumar,
Dina Pathak and
A. K. Hangal,
who remained part of his " working team" since the start until the late
eighties. The lyricist whom he preferred for his movies was
Anand Bakshi. Films by
Shakti Samanta with Khanna in the lead, music by
Pancham and lyrics by
Anand Bakshi had people swooning over. The films Samanta directed without Khanna in the eighties were duds.
His other close friends from the film industry include
Raj Babbar,
J. Om Prakash and
Jeetendra.
Pyarelal quoted in an interview that “Rajesh Khanna was lucky for us
and we were lucky for him too. 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. He was very particular about his music and would take a
tape home if he could not assess a song. He would then give his feedback
after a day or two. 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
Chhailla Babu,
Chakravyuha,
Fiffty Fiffty,
Amar Deep and
Bewafai. Incidentally, he had a stake in
Mehboob Ki Mehndi
too. He had great interest in music and a terrific sense of melody too.
His music is dominated by Pancham (R.D. Burman) and us and we accepted
Shakti Samanta’s Anurodh only because Rajesh Khanna had some
misunderstanding with Pancham then and did not want to work with him.”
Khanna would always request music directors to fit in Kishore Kumar
wherever possible. In fact, Kishoreda was very reluctant to sing "Waada
Tera Waada" in
Dushman
and suggested Laxmikant Pyarelal to get it sung by Rafi. Then Laxmikant
made Kishoreda meet Rajesh Khanna and Khanna 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 Khanna.
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 Rajesh Khanna
as someone who would take the top slot as the most romantic hero of all
time.
Shahrukh Khan idolises Rajesh Khanna and has opined,"Rajesh Khanna you can’t touch". Actor Tom Alter confessed “I still dream of being Rajesh 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 accepted in an interview, "The kind of craze
witnessed by Rajesh Khanna has not been duplicated by anyone. He was the
biggest and the most real star Bollywood has produced. I'd say stardom
is that feeling of being possessed by your idol; you are so overwhelmed
with euphoria you lose touch with reality."
Rajesh Khanna was the last superstar to set fashion trends.
The trend of wearing guru kurtas and belt on shirts became famous in seventies and eighties because of Khanna.
Akshay Kumar was a fan of Khanna since his childhood and later when
he became Khanna's son-in-law, he told "Look at what destiny had in
store for me. I married my idol's daughter! I still can't believe it.
Who wasn't his fan in the 1970s? I remember queuing up for hours to
watch Aradhana, Amar Prem, Kati Patang. These are among my favourite
films of all times."
When
Action Replayy,
a film starring Akshay in the lead released in 2010, Akshay ensured
that Rajesh Khanna was the first person to watch the film in theaters.
On the eve of the film's release Akshay said "The film is set in the era
that belongs to my father-in-law. I am proud of being part of the
family now. Mr Khanna will be the first person to watch the film. I'm
determined about that."
Action Replayy was a film which paid homage to the decade when Rajesh Khanna ruled.
Amitabh Bachchan, while presenting the lifetime achievement award to
Khanna at the IIFA awards of 2009 acknowledged, "The word superstar in
the Indian film industry was for the first time coined for him".
From the early nineties onwards he stopped acting and served as
M.P. of New Delhi Constituency from 1991 to 1996. During that period, he returned to acting, appearing in
Khudai(1994). He made a comeback as a
NRI in
Aa Ab Laut Chalen(1999), and
Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa(2002).
In September 2007, he officially announced his planned return to the
big screen, signing a contract for several new films, including some
television serials.
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