Remembering Rajesh Khanna, the eternal superstar

Narinder Arora

“Izzatain shohratain
chahatain ulfatain
koi bhi cheez duniya
main rahti nahi
aaj tum ho jahan kal koi aur tha … aaj tum ho jahan
kal koi aur tha
Ye bhi ek daur hai woh
bhi ek daur tha”

The above recitation is from Rajesh Khanna’s movie Daag (1973). These beautiful lines have been penned down by Sahir sahib. These lines were Rajesh Khanna’s favourite and he used them often at award functions where he would be honoured for his contribution to Hindi films. He made the whole nation crazy about him and generated such a mass hysteria that the word ‘superstar ‘ was coined for the first time especially for him.

Born as Jatin Khanna at Amritsar, he was adopted by relatives in the family and was brought up in the most affluent style in Bombay. He was fond of theatre and after winning an all India talent hunt competition, he made his debut in Akhri Khat and after not so successful movies like Baharon Ke Sapne, Aurat, he struck gold at the box office with release of Aradhana, which was a ‘heroine’ centric movie, a challenging role written for the then reigning established star Sharmila Tagore. Director Shakti Samanta had the vision to cast a greenhorn Rajesh Khanna. He must have seen some ‘sparks’ of talent in his hero.

Rajesh Khanna had very unique mannerisms; the tilt of head, winking of eyes at the most appropriate moment while lip syncing the songs on the screen, a trademark gesture of hand, an appealing hairstyle and soft dialogue delivery. This dose of freshness helped him over shine the then reigning stars Dalip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor. He delivered back to back 15 solo hits from 69 to 72, and this record is still unbeaten. Films like Ittefaq, Aradhana, Anand, Amar Prem, Sacha Jhoota, Do Raaste, Aan Milo Sajna, Dushman, Kati Patang, Haathi Mere Sathi, Aap Ki Kasam, etc. had golden run all over India.

Along with his unique mannerisms and distinctive style, he was backed by eternal, immortal and evergreen music rendered by Sachin, RD Burman and others. Kishore Kumar with his dreamy voice for playback became his ‘soul’ to give beautiful, romantic, meaningful and peppy songs like Zindagi ek safar hai Suhana, Ye sham mastani, Zindagi ke Safar mein guzar jaate hain jo mukaaam, O mere dil ke chain, ye jo mohabbat hai, mere dil mein aaj kya hai and many more.

Khanna’s gentle looks, disarming smile and that famous tilt of the head did wonders for his female following. No wonder he was the original ‘King of Romance’. At one of the award shows, the present era ‘King if Romance’ Shahrukh Khan openly confessed that while rehearsing romantic scenes he always considered Rajesh Khanna an inspiration.

His popularity was phenomenal despite the fact that the media’s penetration into the glam world was negligible. The hysteria he created swept across ages, gender and genres.

With Amitabh Bachchan hitting the bull’s eye with Zanjeer followed by hugely successful Deewar and clearly overshadowing Rajesh Khanna in Namak Haraam, 1975 onwards it was a catching game for Kaka as his popularity went downhill with string of flops. 1979 onwards, he staged a comeback of sorts and gave very meaningful movies like Thodi si Bewafaai, Avtar, Agar Tum Na Hote, Akhir Kyon and highly successful Souten. He did try his hand in TV but was not very successful. Great moment came when at the 2009 IIFA he was honoured with Life Time Achievement award. Ironically, Amitabh Bachchan gave the introductory speech and presented Kaka the coveted award, which Kaka accepted with great humility and went on to give a very passionate thanks giving speech winning the hearts of the audiences. This Babu Moshsai told the world that once bitter rivals had become good friends.

Kaka succumbed to cancer on 18/7/12 but before departing for good he waved to his fans from the balcony of his famous house Ashirwad and the man truly lived his reel life character of Anand justifying the lines from this very movie Anand mara nahi, Anand marte nahi.

His meteoric rise, the adulation he earned and the pure joy he gave will forever occupy a permanent place in the hearts of his fans.