look news india
New Delhi: There were many stars in the history of Indian cinema who touched the heights of success after coming out of the darkness of failure. But there is also a name that not only crossed her early struggle, but also made a pair with an actress who gave 29 hit films at the box office and for some time also challenged superstar Amitabh Bachchan. This is the story of ‘Kaka’ aka Rajesh Khanna.
Rajesh Khanna, who is called the first ‘superstar’ of Bollywood, started his career with flop films. Rajesh Khanna’s early films such as ‘Bahaar Ke Sapne’, who entered the world of acting in 1966, did not succeed commercially (6, 7, 11). However, in 1969, the film ‘Aradhana’ proved to be a turning point in his career, after which he got the title of ‘Superstar’ (7, 11).
It was here that her incredible journey began, especially her on-screen chemistry with actress Sharmila Tagore made the audience crazy (2, 5, 8, 9, 10). The pair of Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore achieved frequent success at the box office with films like ‘Aradhana’, ‘Ittefaq’, ‘Do Raaste’, ‘Bandhan’, ‘Safar’, ‘Kati Patang’ and ‘Aa Mile Sajna’ (2, 5, 5, 8, 8, 9, 11). The pair worked together in 29 films and most of them proved to be a big hit at the box office (11, 2).
At his peak, Rajesh Khanna’s popularity was so high that he was giving tough competition to established actors like Amitabh Bachchan. In the 70s, their stardom was such that the girls wrote them the letters of blood, married her pictures and a crowd of millions gathered at her funeral (14, 18). According to some reports, his stardom was to the extent that he had overtaken Amitabh Bachchan for a few years (18).
However, in later years, his career fluctuates and some films also flopped (15, 12, 13). But Rajesh Khanna is always remembered as the first superstar in Hindi cinema who learned failure, set new standards at the box office and made a special place in the hearts of the Indian audience.
