Such was his all-pervading charm and appeal that though India had seen superstars like Prithviraj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, K.L.Saigal, Dilip
Rajesh Khanna: A phenomenon without equalKumar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar long before he arrived, that term was first used only for Rajesh Khanna, beginning with his
fifth film, Aradhana. Today, Kaka (as he was affectionately termed by his associates) is no more, but the fame and dizzy success he achieved, even if the peak
lasted for far less than a decade, is in many ways unparalleled even when we consider the success quotients of superstars who came later!
The other word used to describe him was "Phenomenon", based on his extraordinary King Midas-like success streak. The Oxford Dictionary describes this word - in
context - as "a remarkable person or thing, a wonder" and so apt it was. Jatin Khanna, to give him his real name, was born different and raised different and his
uniqueness extended to his film innings, success and failure as well.
The meteor
He who dares - wins. This adage was so perfectly employed by Khanna in his life. He came to Mumbai from Punjab and stayed in middle-class Girgaum, yet he
travelled to the studios to ask for work in his own car, a MG sports model! It is said that the parents who so indulged him had adopted him as a kid, and Jatin was so
grateful to them that he always used their name - Khanna. In that sense, a mystery element was added to that mystique.
He rose like a true-blue meteor. Girls swooning, writing autographs in blood and covering his parked car with lipstick marks were all part of the deification of a human
being. When destiny discriminated against everyone else and made him the Numero Uno demi-god, Khanna even admitted in a weak moment to "feeling next to
God." He made sure that his girlfriend Anju Mahendru's film Uski Roti did not release because he was so possessive about her by buying up all the prints of
the film! But in a rapid volte-face he married Dimple Kapadia on the eve of the release of Bobby. And though they had two daughters, now known as Twinkle
Khanna (Akshay Kumar's wife) and Rinke Khanna, the marriage, like his career, soon went on the rocks. In the '80s, he found a girlfriend in Tina Munim, but things
did not work either.
And yet he was man enough to admit to all the mistakes that he had made in public after receiving one of his many lifetime honours a few years ago. After all, they
had cost him big in both relationships (beginning with his wife Dimple Kapadia who later became his constant support system, his loyal friends like Shakti Samanta
and more) as well as professional progress.
For no one fell swifter than Khanna when adverse times began. The first blow was when Salim-Javed, the men to whom he had given their first screenplay break,
Haathi Mere Saathi, thumbed down Yash Chopra's suggestion of casting him in Deewaar as the good son. The fact that S-J had nothing against Khanna
personally and merely thought of him as the wrong choice made it obvious that the fates were turning against him.
Right from the mid-'70s, many of his films, like Bhola Bhala, Baayen Haath Ka Khel, Bewafaii, Dil-E-Nadaan and others could not get even proper all-India
theatrical releases. In that phase, multi-star films were a rage but many heroes who loved to co-star with each other sidelined him, not out of malice but because they
had all suffered from his manipulations in some film or other.
Khanna was also a misfit at action (despite his successful Bond-like tryst in The Train) and also could not adapt to the sartorial changes of the '80s. His personal
excesses reflected on screen as he became a poor shadow of the man who even men once emulated in apparel, hairstyle and mannerisms! When we see how an actor
who had begun his career with a United Producers' Talent Contest that he won and had his earliest films with giants like G.P.Sippy, Chetan Anand, Nasir Husain,
S.S.Vasan of Gemini, Shakti Samanta, Raj Khosla, Asit Sen and B.R. and Yash Chopra ended his career with insignificant B-graders Kaash…Mere Hote, Do
Dilon Ke Khel Mein and even the skin-flick Wafaa co-starring the now-notorious and deceased Laila Khan, we see how Khanna had virtually written a
designer doom to what could have been a sustained and spectacular career, given his charisma and acting caliber.
The star, the actor
And yet if we mention the flipside of the man behind the superstar just to humanize the idol that Rajesh Khanna was, we cannot in equal fairness ignore his celluloid
strengths. Here is a man who, either by design or default, kick-started the peaks of the careers of Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Shakti Samanta, Manmohan Desai,
Kishore Kumar and R.D.Burman, helped launched the banner of Yash Raj Films with Daag, and acted in the first films of director Narendra Bedi and
producers Mushir-Riaz, besides re-energizing Mohan Kumar's 'hit' banner with Avtaar and Amrit.
Said Mohan Kumar, "I launched Amir Garib with Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini. But Khanna played truant at a few meetings and I sacked him. I rewrote
the entire film, casting Dev Anand. But Kaka (Khanna) and I had remained regulars at each others' parties. When I decided to cast Avtaar, I thought of
various names like Dilip Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan. But my guru Mohan Segal had taught me that after the script, it was the casting that was of
paramount importance. And I could not see any of them in the story somehow. This was Khanna's film. The subject was emotional revenge and it was a very
gutsy casting in those days when Khanna had a long flop-record. Avtaar proved a Golden Jubilee hit. Later, I made Amrit with Kaka - a completely
different and unique subject about two old people finding solace in each other's company."
And it was not only in these two films that Khanna, contrary to popular conception, tried his hand at something completely out-of-the-box for him. He played the role
essayed by Ashok Kumar in the original Meherbaan in David Dhawan's Swarg, was a psychopath in Red Rose, a politician in Aaj Ka MLA
Ram Avtar and appeared as a qawwal in a cameo in Suraag.
Khanna had a great understanding of the script and characters, even if post-superstardom he did suffuse his characters with his classic Khanna-isms. On screen, he
had the acumen to know exactly where Khanna, the star, ended and the character began, which explained the brilliance of his turns in Anand, Khamoshi, Daag,
Anuraag, Aap Ki Kasam and even his home production Chakravyuha, an unlikely Khanna enterprise as it was an espionage drama directed by rom-com
czar Basu Chaterjee with only one duet and a background number. Inspired by John Buchanan's Thirty-Nine Steps, the film failed to do well in that far more
conformist era despite a fairly gripping treatment.
One of the best encapsulations of his rapid-fire success was done by his co-star and habitual support system of upcoming heroes - Nanda, with whom he did
Ittefaq (before his stardom took off), The Train and her home production Joru Ka Gulam. Recalls Nanda, "(Actor) Rajendra Kumar had signed me for
The Train opposite Rajesh Khanna. The first shot was to be canned at a bus-stop next to my bungalow and people in the neighbourhood asked me who my
young co-star was. Later, Yash Chopra-ji started Ittefaq as a quickie shot within a month and I recommended Rajesh Khanna for the role.
Ittefaq released immediately after Aradhana and Do Raaste, and after that one more shot had to be taken at the same bus-stop for The
Train. This time, the entire lane was jammed with people wanting to see the new heartthrob!"
The saga of Rajesh Khanna is floodlit with the best filmmaking and acting talents in the industry. His music was so exceptional that space here does not permit
narration of his own major role in the dozens of classics he enacted.
For that's another story.
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