The very mention of Rajesh Khanna’s name brings to our mind innumerable songs picturized on him most of them sung by Kishore Kumar who came to be known as his voice. Interestingly apart from his on-screen popular pairing with heroines like Mumtaz, Sharmila Tagore and Hema Malini, Rajesh Khanna also shared a terrific rapport with some great character actors of that time like Ashok Kumar, Om Prakash, A K Hangal, Prem Chopra, Sujit Kumar, Helen, Bindu, Asrani, etc., which translated into great on-screen tuning whenever they shared screen space. And where is the guarantee that in his place anyone else would not have behaved like that? It is easy today to sit back and point out at his shortcomings and the mistakes he made but one has to understand that he had neither bargained for nor dreamt of in his wildest dreams that he would ever see such extreme phases in his career. To his credit he handled these extreme phases as best as he could and over a period of time actually came to terms with it gracefully. With the result he could never really grasp the real reason behind his extraordinary downfall either. He was just a young man of 25 or 26 when he became a superstar overnight, had 16-17 super-hit films in a row and probably was not even equipped to deal with the kind of frenzy he whipped up. T he city gave its beloved superstar a fitting farewell when thousands of his fans, supporters and industry people turned up braving the pouring rain to catch a glimpse of their favourite star who had touched the lives of so many with his endearing screen-persona, his handsome face, his heart-warming smile, his natural acting and a repertoire of memorable songs to be stored in our hearts forever. It is said that his last words before he died were “It is time to pack up!” Much like his character in the film Anand, Rajesh Khanna in real life also succumbed to cancer and embraced death with dignity and a smile. With his death the era of romance in Hindi cinema came to an end. It is four years since Rajesh Khanna left us leaving behind a void which can never be filled.
0 kommentar(er)
