At a time when image consultants were unheard of, when there were no PR strategies and publicity gimmicks, the entertainment industry witnessed the meteoric rise of Rajesh Khanna whom we all fondly know as Kaka. He took us away from the socialist era of Dev Anand and Guru Dutt and introduced a new facet of romance to Indian cinema. Long before the Khan’s or even Rishi Kapoor – it was he who was the king of romance. His pairings with Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz and Asha Parekh are unforgettable and movies like Aradhana, Amar Prem and Kati Patang you feel like watching again and again. He created hysteria amongst his fans, his mere presence during his heydays made time standstill. Women swooned over him and maybe for the first time police had to be deployed to keep his fans at bay, some cried when he announced his marriage to Dimple Kapadia, while thousands turned up to congratulate him and countless number of parents named their children after him – such was the euphoria of this man. It was something people hadn’t seen, which made BBC at that time want to cover his rise to fame – where he very nonchalantly said “Who doesn’t like stardom”.
However, with fame and stardom come the pressures of dealing with it, which is where unfortunately he fell back. Though, in movies like Anand and Namak Haram he even overshadowed Amitabh Bachchan, what he couldn’t do was transform from the romantic hero to the angry hero – which was became in vogue then, but that was partly also due to the fact that though Indian cine goers moved from romance to action, they did not welcome his transition. From the pinnacles of stardom he dropped into the shadows. Not only did his personal life go astray but so did his professional but one thing that never did was his iconic superstar status.
Today, in 2012 when he passed away at 69, not only have tributes poured in from the industry and politicians but from fans beyond his generation. His iconic bungalow – Aashirwad in Mumbai was thronged by many. When the news broke on the 18th of July, it created a sense of disbelief along with frenzy. It wasn’t just social networking sites, news channels and radio channels that were abuzz with the news, but so was Bandra, Mumbai. For all those who stayed in the vicinity of his house, will be able to vouch for the fact that though he is no more his superstar status lives on – with both the young and old gathering to get a last glimpse of the man who showed us what super stardom meant. The road near his sea facing bungalow was blocked, and there were traffic snarls in the neighbouring vicinity. As it poured, the traffic came to a halt and his house once again seemed like what it was when he was in his prime, only this time he wasn’t there to witness it.
Stars will come and go but Rajesh Khanna was, is and always will be India’s first superstar. Though his life came to a halt but his movies, dialogues and songs will always be etched in the history of Indian cinema. Like he himself said Zindagi ek rang manch hai aur hum is rang manch ki katputliyaan hai, jiski dor uparwale ke haath mein, koi nahin janta woh kab inhein kheenchta aur kab dheel deta hai – RIP Kaka.
