Rajesh Khanna (born Jatin Khanna) is an Indian bollywood actor, film producer and politician.
During his career, he appeared in over 180 films. He won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards and was nominated for the same fourteen times. He was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. Khanna is referred to as the “First Superstar” of Indian cinema. He had "the biggest and the maddest fan following, especially his female fans," which, according to Entertainment One India, has not been duplicated since he rose to fame in the 1970s.
He served a five año tenure as MP in the Indian parliament (1991–1996).
He was raised por adopted parents (relatives of his biological parents) since they were childless. Khanna lived in Thakoredwar which was near Girgaon. Khanna attended St. Sebastian’s Goan High School in Girgaum, along with his friend Ravi Kapoor, who later took the stage name of Jeetendra. Their mothers were both kirtan pals. Khanna gradually started taking interest in theatre and did a lot of plays in his school and college days. 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.
Rajesh Khanna was one of eight finalists in the 1965 All India Talent Contest organised por United Producers and Filmfare from más than ten thousand contestants. He won All India Talent Contest. He made his film debut in the 1966 film Aakhri Khat directed por Chetan Anand, followed por Raaz directed por 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. 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), Aradhana and Ittefaq. Through Aradhana he rose to "instant national fame" and the film critics started calling him 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 the most popular singer-actor duo and together they gave innumerable hits till 1989.
He appeared in many romances and social melodramas, costarring with Sharmila Tagore, Asha Parekh, Mumtaz, Hema Malini and Tina Munim. In the 1980s, he costarred with Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Poonam Dhillon.
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. When Mumtaz gave up films, Rajesh-Mumtaz were the topmost pair. After Khanna married, Mumtaz decided to marry millionaire Mayur Madhwani in 1974. At the time when her marriage was fixed she was doing three films Aap ki Kasam, Roti and Prem Kahani with Khanna. She decided to quit cine 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 own blood. There used to be a line of cars of producers and hysterical fans outside his bungalow every day. So popular was Khanna that even actor Mehmood parodied his popularity in his hit film 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 in Calcutta with a barco carrying Khanna with Sharmila moving under the bridge but the authorities ruled this scene out as they realised 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 por 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 rayo, ray film and the director Shakti Samanta had to shoot their scenes separately and then registrarse the scenes together. Needless to say this was the most popular song of its generation and went on to become the biggest attraction of the movie Aradhana.
The BBC made a film on him, 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 por the Bombay universidad contained an essay, 'The Charisma of Rajesh Khanna!'
música remained one of the biggest attractions of all Rajesh Khanna films throughout his career, and most of the best scores for his films were composed por Sachin Dev Burman, R.D. Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. The trio of Rajesh Khanna, Kishore Kumar and R.D. Burman went on to make several hits, including Amar Prem, Apna Desh, Mere Jeevan Saathi, Aap Ki Kasam, Kati Patang, Namak Haraam, Phir Wohi Raat, Aanchal, Kudrat, Awaaz, Hum Dono, Alag Alag among others.
Rajesh Khanna had 15 consecutive hits between 1969 to 1972, which is still an unbroken record in Indian film history. His success began to diminish in terms of box office results of his films in the period 1976–78.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Khanna fell in amor 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 break up. 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 actuación 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. Following a few years of separation later the distance 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 also a former Hindi film actress, is married to actor Akshay Kumar and younger daughter Rinki Khanna, also an Indian actress is married to a London-based investment banker Samir Saran.
Rajesh Khanna - Trivia
Rajesh Khanna is now the life member of International Film And televisión Club and International Film & televisión Research Center of Asian Academy Of Film & Television.
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