THE SAD, TERRIBLY SAD END-OF-LIFE STORY OF SUPERSTAR "PHENOMENON" ACTOR RAJESH KHANNA.
Going thru some old filmy videos, I came across one which I had seen nearly a decade ago and it almost brought tears to my eyes, then as well as now.
It was a video of Actor Superstar Rajesh Khanna almost 12 years AFTER he had lost his superstar status and had quit films.
The video showed the new superstar Amitabh Bachchan giving a Lifetime award to Rajesh Khanna, once the darling of millions but soon abandoned and left to wallow in annonymuty and self-pity. In his later years his film life was non-existent and his personal life was a gawdawful mess.
In the video, Rajesh Khanna is in a saffron kirta and has a beard. His movements are exaggerated as if he is drunk or not fully in his senses. He bends low to the audience with arms spread out towards the floor. He seems a bit crazed. Then he delivers, again with exaggerated sweep of his arms, a lecture on the transience of fame and fortune. "Shohrat, naam aur daulat. Kuch nahin rehta," he says. ( fame, name and wealth do not stay).
It is a pathetic homily delivered by a now broken man in contrast to what he was.
A lot of people of today will not know what Rajesh Khanna was. His string of box office hits had prompted media to call him "THE PHENOMENON."
EVERY DAY there were crowds outside his house in Bandra. Young women stood around his white Impala luxury car and kissed it till it was red with their lipstick. His fans wrote letters to Rajesh Khanna in their own blood.
That was Rajesh Khanna.
Then came a great film called ANAND. A great story, an artistic tour de force and Rajesh Khanna acted brilliantly.
BUT...
But the foil or junior actor to Rajesh in the film was a new gawky lanky young actor. A great deep voice and a natural actor. His name was Amitabh Bachchan.
Tho Rajesh was his usual great actor in 'Anand' as soon as the media saw the film and then the public, people started talking about Amitabh.
I was in Mumbai then with the late film journalist Amir Rajpal. Amir took me to a film release party for 'Anand' to Rajesh Khanna's house named 'Aashirwad' at Carter road in bandra.
There the famous and unpredictable and also foul mouthed film journalist Devyani Chauba was also at the Ranesh Khanna party. Devi as she was called, was a big media star at that time, known for her insults to the stars.
At the party Amir and I were standing with Devi. Rajesh Khanna was a few feet away. Devi took out her quarter bottle of whiskey from her purse. She always carried her own whiskey to star parties as she said she wud not be beholden to them by drinking their whiskey.
After a few drinks, Devi suddenly said in a loud voice: "Kachra kar diya. Kachra kar diya Kaka tera." (Kaka was the popular pet name of Rajesh Khanna).She took another sip of whiskey as Rajesh Khanna came towards her and said loudly:" Kaka us ladke ne scene tere se chura liya (he stole the scene from you). Referring to the film's last death scene.
There was silence for a second and then a buzz of angry voices as Rajesh Khanna's supporters showed Devi to the door.
But she was right.
The reign of Rajesh Khanna had ended and the era of Amitabh had begun.
The video brought to mind all these memories. The suave, the handsome, the heart-stealer Rajesh Khanna was on that stage receiving an award but he acted crazy.
I was among millions who loved his films and I still do. But life does strange things. Life destroys the greatest and one can only feel sad.
One can only feel the power of Time.
