Born as Jatin Khanna on December 29th, 1942 in Amritsar, ‘the First Hindi Film Superstar’, Late Shri Rajesh Khanna, was adopted and raised by a wealthy couple. His foster parents were the relatives of his biological parents, who lived in Thakurdwar near Girgaon, Mumbai. He studied with Jeetendraji (Bollywood heartthrob) in St. Sebastian’s Gaon High School in Girgaon.
Rajesh Khanna, his filmdom name was the ‘True Romantic Hero’ of Bollywood in the 1960’s and 70’s in 1965 he won an All-India Talent contest, beating another Bollywood hero, Vinod Mehra. His first released hindi film was ‘Aahkri Khat’ in 1966. His first superhit film was ‘Aradhana’ released in 1969. He gave 15 consecutive super-hit films between 1969 and 1971. The most famous films are Sachaa Jhutha, Safar, Kati Patang, Anand, Haathi Mere Saathi, etc. His female co-stars were Asha Parekh, Mumtaz, Tanuja, Hema Malini to name a few. He did rule the silverscreen till 1983, when ‘Avatar’ was released opposite Shabana Azmi.
When ‘Namak Haram’ was released in 1973, he told Hrishikesh Mukherjee that his stardom is over, and the next superstar is Amitach Bachchan.
He got married to Dimple Kapadia (16 years old) at the age of 31 years in 1973. They had two daughters, Twinkle Khanna and Rinki Khanna. But the couple got separated in 1982. Rajesh Khanna was close to Anju Mahendru all through his life. She is believed to be the cause of separation between the married couple in 1983. Rajesh Khanna’s son-in-law, Akshay Kumar played a great role in keeping Dimple and her daughters close to him.
After struggling for a long time with Cancer, this romantic superhero left for his heavenly abode on 18th July, 2012. A hero worshipped by women and admired by men, of all generation, is hard to be re-born. His songs are legends and his style of expression is eternal. No one can take his place. Anand, the film is an epic movie of his career, which no one can ever forget. He will be missed for eras to come.
