The actor for whom the word ‘superstar’ was coined
Chintamani will probably be collaborating with director Farah Khan on the script, based mostly on his e-book, ‘Darkish Star: The Loneliness Of Being Rajesh Khanna’, for a biopic on India’s first celebrity.
“As soon as, Jaffery and (cinematographer) Sameer Arya instructed Rajesh Khanna to randomly shed a number of tears in a resort’s elevate foyer and Khanna readily dispelled a number of earlier than the elevate emerged,” Chintamani writes within the e-book.
And, there was no finish to his ire when aroused.
“There have been instances when rumours of his sudden demise flooded the Web and noticed his followers paying wealthy tributes on social media websites. As soon as, an infuriated Khanna walked to the principle gate of Aashirwad in his favorite silk lungi-kurta with a cigarette and drink in tow solely to show to a journalist that, opposite to rumours, he was nonetheless alive,” Chintamai writes.
It was this power of character that prompted Rajesh Khanna to seem in his first TV business — maybe to the horror of some, however to the immense delight of a legion of admirers — and boldly declaim: “Followers kya hote hain mujhse poochho. Pyaar ka woh toofan … mohabbat ki woh aandhi .. woh jazbaa … woh junoon. Hawaa badal sakti hai lekin followers hamesha mere rahenge. Babumoshai, mere followers mujhse koi nahin chheen sakta (I’ll let you know what followers are. That storm of affection … that zeal … that insanity. The course of the wind could change, however my followers will at all times stick with me. Babumoshai, nobody can steal my followers from me).”
This was solely to be anticipated from an actor showered with love by a technology of followers who had grown up on three immensely poignant songs from his film ‘Anand’: “Zindagi Kaise Hai Paheli”, “Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaaye” and “Maine Tere Liye Hello Saat Rang Ke Sapne Chune”.
Positive, there have been a procession of hit songs from his 17 consecutive hit movies because the lead hero from 1969 to 1971, which included 15 solo-hero movies and two non-solo-hero movies. “Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana” and “Yeh Shaam Mastani” are simply two, however pay attention rigorously to the lyrics from ‘Anand’ and you’ll get a measure of what Rajesh Khanna’s guiding philosophy was all about.
Sharmila Tagore, his co-star in ‘Aradhana’, which started his journey to superstardom, sums this up one of the best within the foreword to Chintamani’s e-book: “If ever a life was meant to be a e-book, few might stake a stronger declare. Like a taking pictures star doomed to darkness after a wonderful run, Rajesh Khanna spent the higher half of his profession within the shadow of his personal stardom. But, 40 years after his final monstrous hit, Khanna continues to be the yardstick by which each and every single Bollywood star is measured.”
She recollects: “At a time when movie stars had been really bigger than life, Khanna was much more: the one for whom the time period ‘celebrity’ was coined. Born Jatin Khanna to middle-class mother and father, the actor was adopted by wealthy family who introduced him up like a prince.
“By the point he received the Filmfare-United Producers Mix Expertise Hunt, he was already well-known for being the struggler who drove an imported sports activities automotive.
“With 17 blockbuster hits in succession and mass adulation not often seen earlier than or since, the world was at Khanna’s toes. Every thing he touched turned to gold. The hysteria he generated — girls writing him letters in blood, marrying his {photograph} and donning white when he married Dimple Kapadia, individuals bringing sick youngsters for his ‘therapeutic’ contact after ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ — was unparalleled.
“Then, in a matter of months, all of it modified. Khanna’s profession hit a downward spiral, as spectacular as his meteoric rise simply three years after ‘Aradhana’ (1969) and by no means actually recovered.”
Adman-filmmaker R. Balki, who directed Rajesh Khanna within the TV business, roundly deprecates the criticism that the actor had been depicted in poor gentle within the 35-second spot, saying it solely factors to his power of character.
“My response to it (the criticism) is straightforward,” he mentioned in an interview after the business was aired. “If a person is nice sufficient to snicker at himself, why ought to anybody have an issue? When he wasn’t doing something on display all these years, individuals had been making every kind of jokes about it. When a legend chooses to snicker at himself, then some individuals begin getting uncomfortable. I do not even suppose that they’re Rajesh Khanna followers within the first place. … He is the one who’s cracking a joke at himself, he’s sporting sufficient to say, ‘Sure, I’m not what I was. However so what!'”
Legendary script-writer Salim Khan, who in tandem with Javed Akhtar, has penned a few of Bollywood’s most memorable movies, supplies a balanced perspective in his foreword to an earlier biography, ‘Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India’s First Famous person’, by journalist-author Yaseer Usman.
Salim Khan writes within the Foreword: “Immediately, my son Salman Khan is a giant star. Crowds cluster day by day in entrance of our home to catch a glimpse of him. Folks typically come to me and say that they have not seen such a craze for any star earlier than this.
“However I inform these folks that only a small distance away from right here, on Carter Highway, I’ve witnessed many such sights in entrance of Aashirwad. And I’ve by no means seen that form of mass adulation for some other star after Rajesh Khanna.”
Salim Khan concludes: “We frequently overlook once we discuss movie stars or public figures that also they are human beings who additionally make errors, face failure and are frightened of shedding their profitable run professionally, like everybody else.”
One factor is for certain: It has been a decade since Rajesh Khanna departed from this world, however his legacy will proceed to dwell for generations to return.
(Vishnu Makhijani could be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)
–IANS
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