Bollywood Superstar Rajesh Khanna passed away

Yesteryear Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna passed away at his Mumbai residence Ashirwad on 18 July 2012. He was 69. He was severely ill over the past few months. Rajesh Khanna, who was fondly called Kaka by his fans, is considered to be the first superstar of Indian cinema.

Rajesh Khanna, whose real name was Jatin Khanna, was born on 29 December 1942, in Amritsar, Punjab. A natural actor, Khanna got his first break in bollywood after he emerged victorious in All India Talent Contest organised by United Producers and Filmfare in 1965. Aakhri Khat, directed by Chetan Anand, was his debut film. The film was released in 1966. Rajesh Khanna got the first lead role of his career in 1966 with the film Raaz directed by Ravindra Dave.

Period between 1969 and 1972 saw Rajesh Khanna, rising to the pinnacle of stardom. The period was marked by 15 consecutive solo hits by him, the record which still remains untouched. In his over than four-decade long career in the Indian Film Industry he worked in 163 films. An unchallenged king of romantic roles on the screen, Khanna played the lead protagonist in 128 films. He also appeared in 17 short films.

Aradhna, Anand, Kati Patang, Dushman, Bawarchi, Amar Prem, Hathi Mere Saathi, Hum dono and Aag are few of his movies which earned him both the praise of critics and commercial success at the same time. Rajesh Khanna has had a great on-screen chemistry with her fellow actresses like Mumtaz and Sharmila Tagore. With Mumtaz he went on to give block-busters like Aap ki Kasam, Prem Kahani and Roti.

Though, Rajesh Khanna was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award 16 times, Saccha-Jhutha, Anand and Aaviskar actually won him the filmfare awards in the best actor categoy. He was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

The superstar along with playback singer Kishore Kumar gave a number of hit songs. The actor-singer duo gave the Indian audience an entirely new perspective of melodious Indian music. Songs such as Mere Sapnon Ki Rani from Aradhana, which had the voice of Kishore Kumar, made Rajesh Khanna exteremely popular among the youths.

Rajesh Khanna was also the member of Lok Sabha from 1992 to 1996. He was elected to the lower house on the Congress Party ticket from the New Delhi constituency.

The magic of the Rajesh Khanna could well be assessed by the fact that the BBC in 1974 made a film on him, named Bombay Superstar, while, the Bombay University prescribed a book contained an essay, The Charisma of Rajesh Khanna.