Mahesh Bhatt recalls Rajesh Khanna’s chilling revelation on infamy stardom
Actors have often experienced good and bad times in the Indian Film Industry. Some achieved stardom without much struggle and some struggled to make it. However, there was a time when Rajesh Khanna was not just a star but a national obsession. Amid the late 1960s and early 1970s, he ruled with a hysteria never witnessed before in Hindi cinema. But like all meteoric rises, his too came with an inevitable fall.
Veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt recently revealed how he witnessed both shades of the legend, the untouchable superstar and the man coming to terms with fading glory.
Mahesh Bhatt opened up to daughter Pooja on her podcast “The Pooja Bhatt Show” that he first faced Rajesh Khanna while assisting Raj Khosla amidst Do Raaste” released in 1969. “his memory of Kaka (as he was fondly addressed) helping him to dub at odd hours of the night. If you asked him for another take, he would say, ‘Go to Dilip Kumar saab on Pali Hill and ask him to do it as he can’t do beyond this.
It was a telling remark from a man who knew his hold over audiences was unshakable. Flowers, fan letters, crowds outside his bungalow, the frenzy was relentless.
Years later, long following the box office turning unkind and politics emerging as his new stage, Bhatt ran into Khanna again on a flight. This time the superstar was stripped of his aura, almost philosophical. Mahesh asked him gently, when did you realise you were no longer a superstar?
Khanna’s answer was piercing in its simplicity. “The day the flowers stopped coming.” He then explained, “They used to come in trucks, tempos. The house used to get full. One day they didn’t come.”
For Mahesh Bhatt, that single line summed up the rise and fall of an icon. Rajesh Khanna never worked with Mahesh Bhatt in his career. But that fleeting conversation perhaps told the filmmaker more on the man than any collaboration could. Khanna passed away in 2012 at the age of 69.
Rajesh Khanna was his own enemy – Super success killed him and he himself was responsible for it.
News Edit KV Raman
