Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna

Date of Birth : 29 December 1942, Amritsar, Punjab, India 

Birth Name : Jatin Khanna

Nickname: Kaka, RK, King of Romance, Superstar of Indian Cinema

Height : 5' 9" (1.75 m)

Rajesh Khanna, the superstar of Indian Cinema, entered Hindi films in the latter half of the 1960s. He first tasted success with hit films like Baharoan Ke Sapne, Raaz and Aurat and he was appreciated for his performances in box office dud Aakhri Khat.Rajesh Khanna achieved overnight super-stardom with Shakti Samantha's 'Aradhana" (1969). His role in Khamoshi were greatly appreciated.He became the craze of the nation, and critics started calling him the First Superstar of both Indian Cinema (No. 1 Actor) and Hindi Films and remained so alone as the Superstar for 7 years (1969-1975) and had to share the status with Amitabh from 1977-1991 till he left films to join politics in 1991.
Anju Mahendru was his girl friend in 1967-1972, the then aspiring actress but they had breakup in 1972 when Anju was not ready for marriage and Khanna married his fan Dimple Kapadia, who was half his age in 1973, six months before Raj Kapoor's Bobby released in theaters. Khanna's pairing with Mumtaz always produced much success as they had all of their eight films together as major golden jubilee hits.His films with Sharmila Tagore, Asha Parekh and Zeenat Aman was a favorite with audiences too in 70's. From 1976 onwards till 1978, his films started flopping unexpectedly although his performances and the film's music were praised by critics and thereby his successful run at the box office ended. Khanna bounced back with Amardeep and then again started giving many critically acclaimed and commercially successful films starting from 1979 till 1991.K.Balaji , Tamil film actor and producer, wanted to establish himself in Hindi film industry as a producer and thereby wanted to remake his Tamil film Dheepam, which had starred Sivaji Ganeshan in the lead role, in Hindi. At a time when Khanna's films were not working at the box office, Khanna got this film out of the blue and went on to become a big hit.In the 80's his films opposite Tina Munim, Hema Malini, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Poonam Dhillon were big hits. He produced three films and        co-produced 3 films. He left film industry in 1991 and entered politics by joining the Congress Party in 1991 and became a member of parliament. He is still adored and fondly remembered by the masses. Songs from his films adorn the lips of youth and adolescents. He was the first mega-star and has left behind a storehouse of the finest moments in film history. Jatin Khanna, the first superstar of Indian and Hindi Cinema, was born on 29 December 1942 in Amritsar, Punjab, India. He was adopted by relatives of his biological parents. When Jatin took an interest in acting, his rich foster father disapproved, however, Jatin persisted and won the Filmfare Talent Contest in the early 1960s.His uncle advised him to replace his first name from Jatin to Rajesh while entering in film line. He made his debut in the off-beat 'Aakhri Khat' opposite Indrani Mukherjee, thus was born Rajesh Khanna. After dating for seven years with his girlfriend-costume designer, Anju Mahendru, Khanna broke up with her and got married to Dimple Kapadia in 1973. Subsequently he became the father of Twinkle, born in 1974 on the same date as he himself, who would later become actress in her own right. His second child, also a daughter, Rinke, was born on 29 June 1977, and also became an actress. Rajesh was the sole Superstar of Indian and Hindi Cinema from 1969-1976 but had a bad phase from 1976-78 and so has to share Superstar of Hindi Films status with Amitabh from 1977-1991. Khanna acted as the main lead hero from 1966 to 1991 till he the time he joined politics in 1991.In the period 1976-78 Khanna continued to act in many critically acclaimed movies but they failed at box office as violent movies, along with multi star films became popular. Khanna tasted success at box office again from 1979 till 1991. His married life came to an end with Dimple separating from Khanna in 1984. The same time, due to being constantly paired up opposite Khanna, Tina Munim fell in love with Khanna. Tina and Khanna were the top most romantic pair in the eighties. Tina decided to discontinue her film career in 1987 and thereby even their relation ended.Then again relation between Dimple and Khanna blossomed and they even did a film together Jai Shiv Shankar. Rajesh decided to join politics in early nineties and was elected Member of Parliament for a 5 year term from 1991 through to 1996 representing New Delhi as his constituency. He also starred in 3 movies during this period. He does continue to appear on the tinsel screen as the central character in few films post 1998.
Rajesh played the main lead in two serials 'Ittefaque' and 'Apne Paraye' on television during 2001-02 and in Raghukul Reet Sada Chali Aayi in 2008-09.
He was the winner of six Filmfare awards and was nominated for fourteen times.He holds the maximum number of BJFA awards for the best actor - four and was nominated for the same 25 times.

Spouse : Dimple Kapadia

(1973 - 1984) (separated) 2 children

Trivia : Hindi megastar

Father of actresses Twinkle Khanna and Rinke Khanna. Became a grandfather when Twinkle gave birth to a son, Araav in 2002 and then again in 2004 when Rinke gave birth to a daughter. He was adopted by his rich parents who were relatives of biological parents. Rajesh Khanna was Member of Parliament for New Delhi constituency from 1991-1996. He has been a Congress activist since 1990 and has campaigned for Congress party since 1984 at the insistence of Rajiv Gandhi. Enjoyed a godlike status in the period 1969-1976 with female fans writing letters in blood to him that is for eight years. The hysteria was unique and unseen before Khanna came into the film industry. Jeetendra and Rajesh Khanna studied as batch-mates in same school St. Sebastian Goan High School in Girgaum and went to Kishinchand Chellaram College for college. Khanna recommended actor Jeetandra to go into movies and even taught Jeetendra how to by heart and deliver lines in drama and films. Father-in-law of superstar Akshay Kumar. He is a life member of International Film And Television Research Centre and International Film And Television Club Of Asian Academy Of Film And Television. Known as the first Superstar of Hindi Cinema. He formed a great team with Singer Kishore Kumar and Music Director R D Burman and together they have given such songs which are immensely popular even today.Pancham composed music for 40 films of Rajesh Khanna and Kishore sang in 91 films for Khanna. The RD-Kishore- Rajesh Khanna combination worked in 32 films.

Rajesh Khanna holds record for most number of win for Best actor award in Bengal Film Journalist Association Awards (4 awards) and most number of nominations in BFJA awards (25 nominations) for Best Actor. He has won Filmfare Best Actor Awards for 3 times and was nominated for 14 times.

The pair Rajesh Khanna-Mumtaz holds the record for being the only romantic on screen pair in both Indian and Hindi Cinema to have had 100% success ratio at the box office. Rajesh Khanna has 8 blockbusters opposite Mumtaz.

Rajesh Khanna used to sit for music sessions with the music directors and singers for the films with him in lead role. He used to select the tune best suited for the film and used to give suggestions to the music directors.

Rajesh Khanna stood by the bad times of R.D.Burman in the late eighties and ensured producers of his films take R.D.Burman as the music director for his film. Even after death of Kishore Kumar, Rajesh Khanna worked with R.D.Burman till R.D's death. Similarly Khanna backed Kishore Kumar, during Kishore's lean phase as playback singer and insisted to producers and composers to make Kishore sing songs in his films.

Kishore Kumar and R.D.Burman were Rajesh Khanna's closest friends in the film industry. He always insisted on having Anand Bakshi as the lyricist of the songs in his films.

Highest paid Indian actor in 1970-1979 and shared the highest paid actor tag with Amitabh in 1980-1987 period.

Khanna has done 180 films in 40 years from 1966-2011. Of them 163 are feature films as an actor and 17 short films in other capacities.

Rajesh Khanna lent his voice to plays like Albert Camus' "Caligula", directed by Arun Kuckreja to mark in Delhi to mark Ruchika Theatre Group's 20th anniversary celebrations in February 1992.

Personal Quotes

(2011)I have had a number of hits but my most memorable performances are in "Dushman", "Anand", "Amar Prem", "Avishkar", "Aap Ki Kasam", "Prem Nagar", "Prem Kahani", "Chhailla Babu", "Chakravyuha", "Amardeep", "Red Rose", "Kudrat", "Dhanwan", "Avtaar", "Awaaz" , "Babu", "Hum Dono" and "Adhikar". In addition all the 4 films I did directed by Hrishkesh Mukherjee and 9 films in lead role directed by Shakti Samanta are my best.

(2000)There are lack of good roles for actors like me in the films being made after 2000. I would love to do some off beat roles if I am offered. Today the reach of TV is much more than cinema today and one episode of my serial is likely to be watched by more people than a super-hit film. I have played almost all the roles in the planet from 1966-1991 non stop till I joined full time politics. So just for the sake of my fans I am doing Hindi TV Serials that too yes playing the central character and not side roles.

(2009) Once, Pancham and I were flying together to Delhi for the premiere of Baharon Ke Sapne. When the plane took off and started cruising, he started humming a catchy tune. The moment I heard it, I cajoled him to use it for one of my playback songs. Months later, we were at the sitting of Kati Patang and we just could not get the right tune for a particular song which had a waltz meter. That's when, fortunately, I could recall the same tune that RD had sung at 32,000 feet. This melody, which was instantly approved by director Shaktida Samanta, was none other than 'Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai'.

(2008) All the 9 films I did as the main lead for Shakti Samanta as the director, excluding the ones where I had guest role, had memorable performance from me. I believe that was possible because we had the same tastes and shared a great rapport.Same goes the case with the 4 films I did with Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

(2009) RD and I were on a leisure visit to Shiva temple in Kashmir. After listening to the clanging of temple bells during the aarti, we came out and RD instantly hummed a devotional hook line with a folksy flavor. This time, he assured me that he would gift the melody to me. That vibrant duet-song was much later recorded as 'Jai Jai Shiv Shankar' from the movie Aap Ki Kasam.

(2011) Versatility for me means acting in films of different genres, not repeating same characters and doing justice to the role one plays. Though I was tagged as a romantic icon I never succumbed to that pressure. I have appeared in 163 Indian feature films. I played the lead protagonist in 128 films and 106 were solo hero films.I could have played a romantic hero for 25 years or stuck to one genre but I chose right from the start to play variety of characters and romance was just an element in my films.

(2006) Though I gave many award worthy performances in my career I was not nominated for Best Actor in Filmfare many times. It was surprising to see me not even getting nominations for Best Actor at Filmfare for my performances in Roti, Anurodh, Tyaag, Chakravyuha, Redrose, Dhanwan, Kudrat, Souten, Hum Dono, Babu. Since no Filmfare function was conducted for 2 years I lost the chance to get nominated for Adhikar, Amrit and Awam. Many of my fans till date regret the fact that at none of the award functions I was nominated for Best Actor in leading role especially for Ajnabee and Redrose. Infact I should have won the Filmfare Best Actor award for Amar Prem.Bharati Raja expressed his surprise when his Tamil version got many awards but received no nominations for the same film in Hindi in any of the categories.

(2011)In 70's & 80's there were just 2 to 3 award functions and in Filmfare, nominations for Best Actor was restricted to 3 in early 70's and then to 5 in 80's. Today you have 10 award functions honoring the films of the same year so your work does not get ignored.Its good that today your good performances are recognized and praised. But the issue today is sometimes even an average performance by a big star gets nominated for best actor based on his past laurels. On a positive note if you have performed well its definitely gets noticed at functions.

(1990)I had no problems about my wife working.But when i married Dimple, I wanted a mother for my children and didn't want my children to be brought up by servants.And I had no idea of Dimple's talent as Bobby was still not released.Besides if I knew at that moment that Bobby would prove her talent I wouldn't have stooped her.To curb talent is cruel.By the time I saw Bobby our first daughter was already born.

(1990)We cannot be expected to sacrifice our lives for cinema.Its matter of our children's lives.Today my children have grown up and Dimple is working in my film Jai Shiv Shankar. Dimple and I just developed misunderstandings so were separated for 6 years. Though we live separately our relation is sweet and we are there for each-other through out our lives.

Salim-Javed and I had differences.They refused to give Deewar script to Yash Chopra because they wanted only Bachchan.So although Yash wanted me for Deewar in the lead, he had no choice.

It drove me insane when the good films with great performances by me and the whole cast, good music were flopping in the period 77-78.I remember the next day Balaji offered me Amardeep out of the blue.It gave me second lease to my career.Many people from South India stood by me and backed me like producer D. Rama Naidu, C. Dhandayuthapani and directors like Devar, K. Bapaiah, C.V. Sridhar, K. Raghavendra Rao, A.C. Trilogchander and Narayana Rao Dasari.They kept saying commercial failure of those good films in 76-78 had nothing to do with me and I should not let negativity affect me. I am thankful for the scripts they offered me.

(January 28,2012) When I was Congress MP from Delhi, I worked full time as a politician.I have been campaigning for Congress since 1984. It was Rajiv Gandhi who had invited me back in 80's for my suggestions. I have always stood by the party.Lot of speculations were made when I declined Congress high command's offer in 2009 to contest elections from Amritsar.It was solely because of health reasons.I would never like to ditch my own people with hollow promises like other politicians. I am of the opinion that when you are not able to serve the masses then don't make fake promises to them since these are the sins.