#365DaysOfWriting — Day 235

Happy birthday Rajesh Khanna

Oh wow. What a day it is today. Rajesh Khanna – Bollywood’s first superstar, and deliverer of possibly the most everlasting songs in the history of Bollywood. In college, I had done a film appreciation thesis on Shakti Samanta, and in that I had reviewed 2 of his greatest films (arguably) – Aradhana and Amar Prem.

Two reasons Rajesh Khanna became a superstar.

If Aradhana catapulted him to superstardom, Amar Prem cemented his iconic status. I’ve heard stories of how women would actually throw their bras at the screen whenever he appeared, or themselves at him in public. It’s not hard to believe – he was an action hero (The Train), a tragic hero (Namak Haram, Anand), a romantic hero (Aradhana, Kati Patang), and a comic hero (Bawarchi, Joroo Ka Ghulam) all rolled into one thrilling package. There was a time he rolled out 15 consecutive superhit films – something that is unmatched even today.

“Kishore Kumar was my soul and I was the body.”

One of the statements Kaka made that summed up his career and his life. The moment you close your eyes and think of a Rajesh Khanna film, a Kishoreda number will start playing in your head automatically. It wouldn’t be too far off the mark to say that 50% of his superstardom came from the music and songs his films had. The first song I listened to, at the age of 3, was ओ मेरे दिल के चैन from मेरे जीवन साथी. I don’t remember anything else from that age, but I remember this. Two other songs I love of his are मेरे नसीब मैं ए दोस्त from दो रास्ते (Laxmikant-Pyarelal at their supreme best) and मैं शायर बदनाम from नमक हराम. I’ve already spoken about my absolute favourites in many posts earlier, which is why I chose to speak about these three. Just goes to show you can never run out of great songs when talking of Kaka’s movies. Thanks for all these wonderful memories Kaka. I hope you’re in a good place now. And happy birthday once again!

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