There was a famous saying in Hindi cinema, ‘Upar Aaka, Neeche Kaka’. Means God above and Kaka below i.e. Rajesh Khanna. He also got the title of Hindi cinema’s first superstar. Today is the 11th death anniversary of the same Rajesh Khanna.
Rajesh Khanna had to work very hard before achieving this level of stardom. After the partition, the economic condition was not good, so the father handed him over to relatives for upbringing. After taking entry in films, he gave 15 consecutive hit films in 3 years. There was so much craze among the fans that many times the shooting had to be stopped to avoid accidents.
The process of stardom that started with a talent hunt went on in such a way that till date no other star has seen such a beautiful phase. Rajesh Khanna alone dominated Bollywood for almost 20 years. His stardom faded on the entry of Amitabh Bachchan. In the extreme few years, he remained exactly the same. Used to attend award shows alone. After his death, the world came to know that he was suffering from cancer.
It is about the year 1965. The film producers together organized the All India Talent Hunt Contest. More than 10,000 people took part in the show, one of them was 23-year-old Rajesh Khanna. Rajesh Khanna performed so tremendously in this hunt that he first appeared in the top 8 list and became the winner. Among girls, the title was won by Farida Jalal and Vinod Mehra and Leena Chandavarkar were the runners-up. Rajesh Khanna was offered 2 films as a prize.
Rajesh Khanna’s first film Aakhri Khat was released in 1966. The film received an entry under the Best Foreign Language Film of the 40th Oscar Award, but the film was out of the nomination round. Although Rajesh Khanna’s first film was a flop. His second film Raaz was released in 1967, which was a huge hit at the box office. The budget of the film was 65 lakhs which collected 1 crore at the Indian box office.
Earlier the title of the film Aradhana was Vandana. Another film was written on exactly the same story, titled Ek Shriman, Ek Shrimati. When Shakti Samant, the director of the film Aradhana came to know about this, initially he refused to make the film. Although later some changes were made in the story, the concept of double role was introduced after which Aradhana was made.
People liked the song Mere Sapno Mein Kab Aayegi Tu from the film Aradhana. But did you know that while Rajesh Khanna shot the song on the streets, Sharmila Tagore shot the song portion in the studio.
Actually, when this song was shot, Sharmila Tagore could not go to the shooting set due to some reason. For this reason, Rajesh Khanna’s portion was shot on the road. Later, Sharmila Tagore’s part was shot in a studio, which was later edited and presented in front of the audience.
Rajesh Khanna had tremendous craze among the people. Where he used to shoot films, the fans used to reach there to see him, due to which sometimes an accident also happened. Due to the craze of the fans, Naini Lake was closed for 3 days.
The story is about the shooting of the film Kati Patang, when Rajesh Khanna went to Nainital for the shooting. The shooting location was around Naini Lake, so that lake was tied with boats from all sides for 3 days. The reason was that people would definitely reach there in large numbers to see them, due to which there was a danger of an accident. Due to the fans, when the shooting was stopped due to the fear of breaking the Howrah Bridge
The second story is of the film Amar Prem. A scene of this film was to be shot under Howrah Bridge in Kolkata where Rajesh Khanna was to be seen in a boat with Sharmila Tagore. But later the authority there did not give permission for it. The authority said that so many people would gather on the Howrah Bridge to see Rajesh Khanna that the bridge might collapse, so the shooting could not take place there.
The name of South actor Kamal Haasan is also included in the list of Rajesh Khanna’s friends. Once Kamal Haasan went to watch an American film with Rajesh Khanna. The people present there had no idea that Rajesh Khanna was also there. Everything was fine and the film ended, but Rajesh Khanna started watching the title end of the film after it was over.
On the other hand, Kamal Haasan started worrying that if the people present there came to know about this, there would be a stampede in the theatre. Eventually that happened. People recognized Rajesh Khanna and there was a tussle between the people present there to touch him. Kamal Haasan saved Rajesh Khanna from that crowd and pulled him out, but Rajesh Khanna’s shirt got torn in the tussle of the people. However, despite this he was smiling.
1969-1972.. This was the period when Rajesh Khanna used to appear in any film, he had a special request to sing the songs of his films with Kishore Kumar. This was the reason why only Kishore Kumar sang the songs of Rajesh Khanna’s films in 1987. Both worked together in 132 films.
Vaada Tera Vaada was a song from the movie Dushman. When Kishore Kumar was selected for this song, he refused. He said that Rafi Sahab can sing this song better than him.
When Rajesh Khanna came to know about this, he met Kishore Kumar. Kishore Kumar explained a lot to him but he did not agree and said that if you do not sing this song then this song will be removed from the film. Kishore Kumar had to bow down to this insistence of Rajesh Khanna and finally he sang this song.
The relationship between Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia started showing cracks only after 11 years of marriage. The news was that Rajesh Khanna did not want Dimple to work in films. Because of this, there used to be a lot of debate between the two. After some time both of them started living separately but never got divorced.
In an interview, Rajesh Khanna himself told that after being separated from Dimple, he had built a wall around himself for 14 months. He had stopped trusting people, did not sign new films. Confidence had waned. He used to worry constantly and used to think about committing suicide.
Rajesh Khanna gave many hit films in his career, but his stardom also decreased after a time. If reports are to be believed, when the angry man Amitabh Bachchan entered the film world, his magic started fading among the people. The reason was that he started working in action films, but the audience only wanted to see him in romantic films.
When the offers of films started getting less, he tried his hand on the small screen as well and also did many TV serials. However, even for the role in these TV serials, he had to struggle a lot and got the role with great difficulty.
Recalling the journey of his career, Rajesh Khanna had said in an interview that there used to be a time when people used to throng outside his bungalow Ashirwad. His drawing room was full of bouquets. But there also came a time when not even a single flower came to him. He became emotional while telling this.
In 2005, it was announced to give the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award to Rajesh Khanna. Meera Joshi, the managing editor of Filmfare, had met Rajesh Khanna and asked if he would come to the award function and accept the trophy? Rajesh Khanna had agreed to this.
Also, he had asked Meera for some extra passes for the function, but he had reached the function alone, which surprised everyone. He took an extra pass, yet no one came with him to the award function.
In 2011, Rajesh Khanna came to know that he had cancer, but he wanted to keep this thing limited only to his close ones. He had told the family members that this thing should not reach his fans. In June 2012, his health started deteriorating due to which he was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai on 23 June. He was discharged from the hospital on July 8 after his health improved.
Rajesh Khanna was again admitted to Lilavati Hospital on July 14, but he had an apprehension that he did not have many days now. That’s why he had told his family members that he wanted to take his last breath at home.
He was discharged from the hospital on 16 July, after which, 2 days later, on 18 July, Rajesh Khanna passed away at his bungalow Ashirwad. After the death of Rajesh Khanna, the world came to know that he was suffering from cancer. More than 10 lakh people attended his last visit.
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