RAJESH KHANNA:END OF AN ERA 1942-2012 FOR FANS, THE ONLY AND FOREVER SUPERSTAR

 

HE BEHAVED LIKE A SUPERSTAR TOO. BBC JOURNALIST JACK PIZZEY DESCRIBED HIM AS SOMEONE WITH THE CHARISMA OF RUDOLPH VALENTINO AND THE ARROGANCE OF NAPOLEON. THE STAR HAD MISSED HIS INTERVIEW APPOINTMENT FIVE TIMES.

Jai Jai Shiv Shankar, a movie with Dimple long after they had separated. I spent two whole days with him in Trinidad in 2006 where he and Zeenat Amanreceived Lifetime Achievement Awards at some local do. In fact Kaka and I sat next to each other in the Business Class from Trinidad to London and spent a good six hours going down memory lane. In his head, he was still a superstar. He believed he was King. I didn’t correct him.
Instead I sat next do him observing how his neat his hands were. His nails were manicured perfectly and he seemed to enjoy his breakfast. His hand luggage was a small plastic sack with a carton of Dunhill cigarettes and his hair brush. And though his hair was thinning, he would run a brush through his hair very often.

Probably, the first signs of his illness were already there. Who knows? All I know is that Kakaji’s biggest fear those days was that he would be alone when he passed away. Something he didn’t want. Fortunately for him, his elder daughter Twinkle, who shares his birthday (29 December) and his son-in-law Akshay Kumar reached out to him. His estranged wife Dimple was also there for him these last two years, playing Florence Nightingale. And caring for a man who she married in 1973, separated from in the early 80s; but never divorced.

His famous dialogues…
Kab, kaun, kaise uthega ye koi nahin bata sakta hai (Anand)
Babumoshai, zindagi aur maut uparwale ke haath hai. Usse na aap badal sakte hain, na main (Anand)
Yeh bhi toh nahin keh sakta, ki meri umar tujhe lag jaye! (Anand)
Main marne se pehle marna nahin chahta (Safar)
Yeh toh main hi jaanta hoon ki zindagi ke aakhri mod par kitna andhera hai (Safar)
Kisi badi khushi ke intezaar mein … hum yeh chote chote khushiyon ke mauke kho dete hain (Bawarchi)
Yeh lo, phir tumhari aankho main paani! Maine tumse kitni baar kahan hai ki, Pushpa mujhse ye aansu dekhe nahi jaate. I hate tears. (Amar Prem)
Iss ek glass main ek majdoor ki ek mahine ki roti hai aur parivaar ki saans. Kabhi socha hai ki iss ek glass ko pite hi hum ek parivaar ko bhooka maar dete hai (Namak Haram)

Once upon a time, there was a Rajesh Khanna. Men aped him. Women worshipped him. And girls married his photographs, smudged his car with lipsticks and waited late night outside hotels hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Once when he had fever, a group of college students spent hours taking turns to put ice water on his forehead in a photograph.

Once he rode into a nation’s heart serenading Sharmila Tagore with Mere sapnon ki raani in Aradhana (1969) and followed it up with another blockbuster Do Raaste a few weeks later,Rajesh Khanna rewrote box-office history. Between the years 1969 and 1972 almost everything he touched turned to gold — 15 consecutive hits of various degrees. No wonder producers chanted: Upar aaka, neeche Kaka (God above and Kaka, Khanna’s pet name, below).
He behaved like a superstar too. BBC journalist Jack Pizzey described him as someone with the charisma of Rudolph Valentino and the arrogance of Napoleon. The star had missed his interview appointment five times.

The Amritsar-born actor was too big and too swept away by fame to care. Who wouldn’t when even street fashion was defined by your personality? The belt slapped over shirt, the round-collared guru kurta, a smart ploy to hide a growing waistline, all became a rage. And even in those no-sat-TV days, his smile sold toothpaste (Macleans)

But just when critics wrote him off, the actor made a comeback of sorts with Amardeep (1979). Right through the 1980s, he blended the occasional hit (Souten, Maqsad) with the rare blockbuster (Avtaar) and a stream of flops.

Joining the Congress in 1991 was a shrewd career move. The same year he contested the Lok Sabha election against BJP leader L K Advani, then on Cloud 9 following his Ayodhya rath yatra, and gave him the fright of his life. The actor lost by only 1,589 votes from the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. A few months later, he comfortably won the byelection beating fellow actor Shatrughan Sinha. But in politics, the actor sparkled like a shooting star only to vanish with the same speed.

The last two decades were disappointing for the ex-superstar. In 1997, he played a father in RK Productions’ Aa Ab Laut Chalein. He also acted in forgettable television serials such as Ittefaq. When an ex-superstar ends up rubbing sun cream on the back of the likes of Laila Khan as he did in Wafaa (2008), you know he isn’t doing too well. But then as the superstar might have said, Hum to sab rangmanch ki kathputliyan hain… And for his fans, Rajesh Khanna will always be the only and forever superstar.readmore http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.blogspot.com/2012/07/rajesh-khannaend-of-era-rajesh-khanna.html