Mumbai: Fondly known as Kaka, he was just a 25-year-old young man when he became a superstar overnight. With 16-17 super-hit films in a row, Rajesh Khanna is the first superstar of Bollywood.
On this birth anniversary, let’s put light into some of his incredible work. Rajesh Khanna’s name brings to our mind innumerable songs picturized on him most of them sung by Kishore Kumar who came to be known as his voice. Almost all his songs were super-hits probably because his facial expressions and expressive eyes added so much life in the songs that they became extensions of his personality.
Here are the films of superstar Rajesh Khanna:
Raaz (1967): Rajesh Khanna was lucky to play a double role in the very first film he signed though his ‘Aakhri Khat’ hit the theatres earlier. In the story, one of them is in Africa and is repeatedly haunted by images in his sleep of a place in India and when he comes to India to investigate, a lot of mysterious things are uncovered. Also the villagers are stunned to see him as they keep telling him that he has actually been murdered and buried.
Aurat (1967): A family social with plenty of melodrama typical of films remade from South Indian blockbusters. This one was a remake of ‘Chitti’ and Padmini essayed the role of the sacrificing protagonist in both languages. Since this was Rajesh Khanna’s third film after Aakhri Khat and Raaz, he had a small role and was part of a stellar cast which included Pran, Kanhaiyyalal, Lalita Pawar and Feroze Khan in important roles.
Choti Bahu (1971): This film was based on Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s Bengali story ‘Bindur Chheley’ and had a good cast of Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore, Nirupa Roy , Tarun Bose , Satyen Kappu and Baby Sarika as a boy. In keeping with the other stories written by the author, this one too has a complicated plot and well-etched out characters though the female protagonist here is not exactly likeable!
Dil Daulat Duniya (1972): This fun-filled social drama starring Om Prakash, Ashok Kumar, Rajesh Khanna , Sadhna and Agha directed by P N Arora was a remake of the 1948 film Pugree, which in turn was a remake of the 1947 Hollywood film It Happened on Fifth Avenue.
Joroo Ka Gulaam (1972): The story has elements of fun and romance in the right proportion with foot-tapping music by Kalyanji-Anandji. Rajesh Khanna-Nanda pair shares a great chemistry and their comic timing is superb to watch.
When rich girl Nanda decides to marry a not so well-off Khanna, parental objections make her run away and get married and since they stay in another city Nanda’s parents have never met Khanna. When Nanda gives birth to a son, the parents decide to forgive and forget and express their wish to come and stay with Nanda.
PNN