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| Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore in Amar Prem - one of the best romantic films ever made |
Two songs and two movies that
seldom make it to the top list of Rajesh Khanna are Humen Tumse Pyaar Kitna
from Chetan Ananad’s Kudrat (1981) and Phool Aahista Phenko from Raj Khosla’s PremKahani (1975).
These songs are my perennial favourites.
Both the movies were released long after Amitabh Bachchan had replaced Rajesh
Khanna – quite decisively – as the reigning superstar of Hindi cinema.
Both the movies didn’t do too
badly but were released at the height of Amitabh rule (1981: Naseeb, Kaalia,
Silsila, Yaarana, Lawaaris; 1975: Deewar, Sholay) and therefore didn’t get the
attention they probably deserved.
Incidentally, both Chetan Anand
and Raj Khosla, too, have never really got the attention they deserve. A
retrospective is the least their aficionados expect, and perhaps someone at
TIFF should think about it.
In the last few hours, almost
everyone I know on Facebook who is in India (or is of a South Asian origin in
Toronto) is talking about the end of an epoch – Rajesh Khanna is no more.
All evening, I have woefully
missed being in India – missed being in the midst of the saturation coverage in
the media of the superstar’s demise.
I’ve spent a major part of the
evening reading reports and obituaries on the internet, and watching hurriedly
put together documentaries on news channels on the man who often made me jealous
of my cousins older than me as they would talk about him as if he was a member
of the extended family, living with us during the hot summer vacation in a
small house in Bombay’s Prathna Samaj.
I grew up being teased by them to
the Aradhana song – Bago mein bahaar hai.
I didn’t belong to the
generation that worshiped Rajesh Khanna – and the only Rajesh Khanna movies
that we (my sister and I) were taken to see by our parents were Dushman (1971,
Dulal Guha) at Gaiety (Tardeo), and I remember walking back home in the rains; HaathiMere Saathi (1971, don’t remember where I saw it, but must’ve been at one of
the theaters along Lamington Road) and Bawaarchi (1972, Hrishikesh Mukherjee) at
Metro, (Dhobi Talao).
In 1972, my family moved to
Teli Gali, next doors to three giant movie studios. In a couple of years, Hindi
movies became an integral part of my life, thanks largely to the Sunday evening
movies telecast on Doordarshan, and all of us – about a few dozen kids – would flock
to Dr. Mankodi’s living room to watch anything that was telecast. And the
multiple times I saw Yadoon Ki Baraat.
By the time I began to go to
movies on my own, Rajesh Khanna had already begun to fade away. Although I
remember collecting hundreds of Honeydew cigarette wrappers (or was it Wills?)
and exchanging these for a wedding photograph of Rajesh Khanna and Dimple, and
then a little later for wedding photograph of Amitabh Bachchan. And still a few
years later, for the photographs of the West Indian cricket team that had
Lawrence Rowe in it.
I saw Prem Kahani in Baroda
with about a dozen or more cousins – all on a vacation. I just loved the movie.
Since then I made it a point to see all the Rajesh Khanna movies that would be
shown in what we then called the “second round” – movies that were re-released
after a gap.
I seldom missed any of his
releases thereafter, although I saw all of these movies on my own because it’d have
been embarrassing admitting to anyone that I liked him. That’d be so like a
woman. Also, in those days there was a particular popular and nasty ditty, which went something like this:
Rajesh Khanna
Haath mein ganna
Picture dekh ke
Nanga chal na
In those years, I always
wondered why hadn’t he been paired with Hema Malani more frequently in the
1970s. Yes there was Ramesh Sippy’s Andaz, but Khanna’s role was a cameo in
that movie, and there were Prem Nagar (1974) and Mehbooba (1976) but they had
bombed badly (although both had awesome songs – Prem Nagar: Yeh Lal Raang KabMujhe Chhodega; Mehbooba: Parbat Ke Peeche Chamb da Gaon).
Then after a few years came Kudrat,
a movie that lived up to the Rajesh Khanna-Hema Malani billing, it also had the
hysterical Priya Rajvansh, the pompous and theatrical Raaj Kumar, and the
seasoned Vinod Khanna, with the versatile Aruna Irani. Incidentally, Praveen Sultana's version of Humen Tumse Pyaar Kitna being the best one.
In recent years, thanks largely
to social media, there has been a revival and rediscovery of the Rajesh Khanna
phenomenon, which I find a bit astonishing. The easy access to his popular
songs on youtube is really a great boon for Indians who aren’t in India
anymore.
There are many ways to remember
Rajesh Khanna. I remember him for putting the fear of Bhagwan Ram in Lal
Krishna Advani’s heart in the 1991 election when Advani won by the thinnest of margins from the New
Delhi constituency.
And, of course, as the other half of the most romantic pair ever (with Sharmila Tagore), in the most romantic movie ever made in Hindi cinema - Amar Prem. Here is another of my favourite
songs from Safar. I see it on youtube when I have a lot of work and don't want to do it. Nadiya Chale re
Nice!!
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed this Nadiya song after years. Thanks Mayank.