Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna (pronounced ,pronunciation (help·info)), born Jatin Khanna (29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is best known for his work in the Hindi cinema. He is referred to as the "First Superstar" of Indian cinema. He starred in 15 consecutive solo hit films from 1969 to 1971, a record unbroken.
He did 106 solo hero films of which 97 were released between 1967 and 2013.He acted in only 22 films with multi-star cast. 82 of the 127 films with Rajesh Khanna as the lead protagonist (of them 117 released and 11 unreleased) were critically acclaimed films with ratings above 4 stars out of 5 by film reviewers of various newspapers of that time unanimously.

Early life

Rajesh Khanna was born on 29 December 1942, in Amritsar in the present-day state of Punjab, as Jatin Khanna.He was adopted and raised by Chunnilal Khanna and Leelawati Khanna, who were relatives of his biological parents. His father had migrated from West Punjab to Gali Tiwarian in Amritsar. His biological parents were Lala Hiranand Khanna and Chandrani Khanna. Lala worked as headmaster of the MC High School in Burewala (in present-day Vehari District, Punjab, Pakistan).His adoptive parents belonged to a family of railway contractors who had moved from Lahore to Bombay in 1935. Khanna lived in Saraswati Niwas, in Thakurdwar near Girgaon, Mumbai.

Early career (1966–1975)

Rajesh Khanna was one of eight finalists from more than 10,000 contestants in the 1965 All India Talent Contest, organised by United Producers and Filmfare, along with FTII students Subhash Ghai and Dheeraj Kumar.Rajesh Khanna won the contest. BR Chopra, Bimal Roy, GP Sippy, HS Rawail, Nasir Husain, J.Om Prakash, Mohan Saigal, Shakti Samanta and Subodh Mukherji and others had created the United Producers organisation and were thnoe judges of the contest.

1976–1978

Between 1976 and 1978, Khanna acted in several films that were not commercially successful. These films included Mehbooba,Bundal Baaz, Tyaag, Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein, Naukri, Chakravyuha and Janta Hawaldar, which were directed by Shakti Samanta, Shammi Kapoor, Din Dayal Sharma, Meraj, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee and Mehmood Ali, respectively. Khanna persuaded Samanta to cast his sister-in-law Simple Kapadia opposite him in Anurodh. Films starring Rajesh Khanna and directed by Shakti Samanta tended to be commercially successful, but Mehbooba was an exception.The change from romantic and social movies to action oriented multi-starrers caused some decline of Khanna's career in terms of box office ratings. The declaration of emergency in India had angered the masses and this helped films having the lead character revolting against corruption to become successes.

1979–1991

After 1978, Khanna starred in films like  such as Amar Deep, Phir Wohi Raat, Bandish,Thodisi Bewafaii, Dard, Kudrat, Dhanwan, Ashanti (1982 film), Avtaar, Agar Tum Na Hote, Souten, Jaanwar, Asha Jyoti, Awaaz,Naya Kadam,Hum Dono, Babu, Aaj Ka M.L.A. Ram Avtar,Shatru, Insaaf Main Karoonga, Anokha Rishta, Nazrana, Angaarey, Adhikar, Amrit, Awam and Rupaye Dus Karod. Director Bharathiraja decided to remake his 1978 Tamil box office hit film "Sigappu Rojakkal" in Hindi with Khanna playing a psychopath. Kamal Haasan who played the same role in Tamil won South Filmfare Best Actor Award for his portrayal.But the Hindi movie was seen as controversial by traditional and orthodox Hindi moviegoers and was not a commercial success.