Rajesh Khanna
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Rajesh Khanna (Punjabi: ਰਾਜੇਸ਼ ਖੰਨਾ) (born Jatin Khanna on December 29, 1942 in Amritsar) is a legendary Indian Bollywood Thespian. He has also served a five year tenure as MP in the Indian parliament (1991-1996).
Early lifeRajesh Khanna came from an affluent family. Khanna's father had misgivings about Rajesh's taking on a professional acting career. His initial foray into cinema with renowned film maker Chetan Anand was not a resounding success. Nonetheless, Rajesh persisted and exceeded all expectations. His previous theatrical background assisted him with the characterization of the personas of the cinema which he portrayed effortlessly and naturally. He is Hindi cinema's first officially acknowledged Superstar.[1] In March of 1973 Rajesh Khanna married Dimple Kapadia, a Bollywood actress who had just made her film debut in Raj Kapoor's coveted blockbuster Bobby. At the time of Kapadia's film debut, she was sixteen years old; Khanna was thirty-one. They became the parents of Twinkle Khanna and Rinke Khanna, who would also become Bollywood actresses. Later lifeKhanna and Dimple Kapadia separated in the early 1980s, but still they are fulfilling all the responsibilities of their social life especially in establishing the life of their daughters. Their elder daughter Twinkle who is an interior decorator is married to current star Akshay Kumar and younger daughter Rinkee is married to a businessman, after getting higher study from USA. Khanna was a Member of Parliament for the New Delhi constituency (1991-96). He is the life member of International Film And Television Research Centre and International Film And Television Club Of Asian Academy Of Film & Television. Recently he announced his appearance in a spate of forthcoming films for which he is hopeful of renewing previous success. He is also going to participate as Celebrity Judge in a reality show at Sony Channel called K for Kishore, based on the legendary singer late Kishore Kumar . He is also going to perform in a T.V. Serial Bhabhima with Leena Ganguly as Lead Pair of the serial. Bollywood careerEarly successRajesh Khanna joined the film industry in 1966 after winning an All India Talent Contest through a nation wide selection procedure by panel of judges like Late Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt, Chetan Anand, G.P. Sippy, Sri Sakti Samanta, Sri B. R. Chopra, etc., making his film debut was in Aakhri Khat which went unnoticed. He appeared in a few more films over the next two years which did not gain him any recognition. He shot to fame with the 1969 film Aradhana which was his first major hit. From then on he was an extremely popular actor in the early 1970s, appearing in many romantic and melodrama films which were hugely successful at the box office. He was often paired with actresses Mumtaz or Sharmila Tagore. Some of his most successful films in this period included Anand (1970), Amar Prem (1971), Andaaz (1971), Daag (1973) Namak Haraam (1973), Aap Ki Kasam, Prem Nagar and Roti (1974). During the peak of his career he would be mobbed during public appearances. Fans kissed his car, which would be covered with lipstick marks, and lined the road, cheering and chanting his name. Female fans sent him letters written in their own blood [1] From 1969 to 1974 he had 15 consecutive hit films, a journalist Devyani Chaubal dubbed him "phenomenon" when he was at his peak. Several of the popular songs sung by Kishore Kumar in the 1970s were picturized on Khanna and helped his films become successful and after emergence as voice of Superstar Rajesh Khanna, Kishore Kumar became the Superstar Singer for decades. Later careerHowever the success perhaps caused him to be complacent, often turning up very late for shoots and throwing tantrums as well as having a whole entourage of sycophants accompany him for his shoots [2]. This behaviour coupled with the changing trend from romantic movies to action oriented multi-starrer films in the late 1970s and 1980s caused the decline of Khanna's career in term of box office rating. But he continued to perform in high class social and meaningful films such as Anurodh, Thodisi Bewafai, Souten, Vijay and Swarg. He also played central character roles as well as guest roles in multi-starrer social/action films such as Kudrat, Rajput, Dharam Aur Kanoon, Dharam Kanta, Ashanti and Disco Dancer. He took a career risk and experimented with negative roles in Red Rose where he played a psychopathic killer of women and in Dhanwaan where he played an arrogant businessman. In both of these films he performed totally negative characters. By the early 1990s he quit acting for many years and served as Hon'ble M.P. from prestigious seat of New Delhi Constituency from (1991-1996). During that period he appeared in Khudai (1994) and won Best Actor Award at Ujvegistan at Russian Film Festival. He made his acting comeback in Aa Ab Laut Chalen (1999) and Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa (2002) where he played elderly father roles. In 2006 he appeared in Jaana - Let's Fall in Love which was a direct to video release. Soon he is also going to participate as Celebrity Judge in a reality show for Sony Entertainment Television Asia called K for Kishore, based on the legendary singer late Kishore Kumar. Political careerDuring 1991-1996, Rajesh Khanna was a Member of Parliament for the Congress Party, from the New Delhi constituency. He has since been a political activist for the Congress Party expressing noteworthy, objective and constructive patriotism for India. Television careerIn 2001-2002, Rajesh Khanna played major roles in two television serials: Aapne Parai (B4U & DD Metro) and Ittefaqu (Zee TV). He performed in a video album based on Tagore's immortal songs (Rabindra Sangeet) free of cost. Currently he is busy in processing his own music channel viz. R.K. Music Channel. He has endorsed a talent hunt programme in 2007 namely "Star se Superstar tak" as the First Superstar of Indian Cinema, under the banner of Red Carpet Entertainment and donated a Gold Trophy of Rs.1 Crore with Ms. Priyanka Chopra. He has signed a TV serial with Creative Eye Banner (Dhiraj Kumar)in 2007. He is also going to participate as Celebrity Judge in a reality show at Sony Channel called K for Kishore, based on the legendary singer late Kishore Kumar Ganguly. He is also going to perform in a T.V. Serial Bhabhima with Leena Ganguly as Lead Pair of the serial. In its Silver Jubilee Episode, K for Kishore is celebriting SUPER STAR RAJESH KHANNA SPECIAL, this week Friday and Saturday on 14th and 15th of March, 2008. AwardsFilmfare AwardsWon
Nominated
Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards
Other awards and recognitions
These are in addition to a number of Best Actor/Life Time achievement Awards of international and national repute. Filmography
References
External links
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