Book Review: ‘Rajesh Khanna- The Untold Story of India's First Superstar’ by Yasser Usman

As someone who grew up in the 90s, I never witnessed Rajesh Khanna’s stardom prevalent in the 70s or the subsequent downfall in the 80s. Nor did I grew up on his movies and haven’t seen all of them, which I am not too proud of. Despite being one of the busiest star, on screen he always displayed great depth and maturity accompanied by his easy charming smile. That’s a sign of an actor par excellence. From all his wonderful movies, two that I have seen and love are Anand and Bawarchi, the former being an all time favourite. As a result, he was always an actor that I heard often about but knew nothing concrete.

Very often, I would hear Rajesh Khanna being addressed as the first and biggest superstar that Indian film industry has ever seen. I always felt his projected image in the media was bit of an exaggeration; a mere courtesy akin to the string of praises given to every Lifetime Achievement winner in popular film award shows or a gesture shown out of respect. In today’s age, actors like Amitabh Bachchan followed by Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan are called superstars too. So I wondered why Rajesh Khanna’s popularity deserved a special mention.

I discovered after reading Yasser Usman’s book ‘Rajesh Khanna- The Untold Story of India's First Superstar’ why his super stardom was and still is incomparable. And no, it isn’t an exaggeration.

The book starts with a foreword by acclaimed film writer, Salim Khan who is also the father of actor Salman Khan. His son is a superstar of today’s time and thousands of fans gather around their Bandra home just to get a glimpse of the Dabangg actor.  Thus, when Salim Khan says, “I have witnessed many such sights in front of Ashirwad. And I have never seen that kind of mass adulation for any other star after Rajesh Khanna”, one can only imagine what level of fan following the yesteryear’s star enjoyed.

As you turn the pages, you get to meet the spoiled & struggling 23 year old Jatin Khanna. Yes, he wasn’t a ‘poor’ struggling actor trying to make ends meet like I assumed him to be. Struggling actor he was. But he was a ‘rich’ struggling actor.  Writer Yasser Usman addresses Rajesh Khanna by his real name ‘Jatin’ while narrating the early days until he changed his name officially. This helps to build two distinct characters of the same person in the reader’s mind. Jatin, the pre-fame struggling actor. Rajesh, the box office king and superstar.

The biography breezes through his theatre days, the United Producers - Filmfare Talent Contest, his initial flops, the golden period between 1969-1972, his decline and the final chapter when he disappeared into oblivion. Running in the background are his romantic relationships: his first love Surekha, long-term relationship with Anju Mahendroo, impulsive wedding with the 16-year-old Dimple, affair with the pretty Tina Munim and very brief references about his alleged relationship with Anita Advani.

The experience was almost like reading a typical fictional story as Usman has taken the liberty to dramatize certain episodes of the actor’s life. For instance, while narrating the day when Rajesh Khanna fell from his brand new bicycle and fell in love with Surekha (his teenage love) when she came out with antiseptic liquid and cotton swab, he wrote ‘The cycle responded well- the pedaling was smooth, the chain well oiled. Round and round he went in the compound, enjoying the thrill.’

It is this fictionalized style of writing of Yasser Usman backed by extensive research and journalistic sensibilities, which made it easy-to-read. It enabled someone like me to enjoy the superstar’s life story irrespective of the generation I was born in. The fact can’t be ignored that what must have come to Yasser Usman’s aid while writing is that Rajesh Khanna’s life was no less than a spicy Bollywood potboiler, with all the essential elements like success, failure, affairs, jealousy, revenge, ego, resentment, loneliness, competition, and drama. Very tactfully, Usman manages to build mystery (about Khanna’s childhood that very few know about) and heartbreak drama (about his break-up with Anju Mahendroo and subsequent marriage & separation with Dimple Kapadia).

It is peppered with never-heard gossip and quotes by Rajesh Khanna or about Rajesh Khanna that shocked and amused me. Like when Devyani Chaubal warned him about ‘lambu’ Amitabh Bachchan or when Randhir Kapoor expressed his displeasure about Dimple Kapadia getting married and pregnant while shooting for ‘Bobby’. There are many, many more such juicy anecdotes about actors of those times and film industry in general that will urge you to turn the pages. After all, we are ‘filmstars obsessed’ nation!

What it left me feeling? With mixed feelings about the ‘Phenomenon’ called Rajesh Khanna. At various places, I disliked him, liked him, felt sorry for him or got appalled reading about his obsessive, narcissistic, selfish and eccentric behaviour. But the book helped me to understand him better, as an actor and as a person.

Questions like, what made him sign the disastrous movie ‘Wafaa’ or the Havells ad or enter politics, were answered. His failure and success was always out in open for people to scrutinize. Yet he lived his life unapologetically. That’s commendable. He was the only actor who tasted unbelievable popularity. Sadly, he wasn’t able to or didn’t know how to handle success or failure.

I think his life served as a template for other upcoming actors to learn from. At one point in the book, it is mentioned that Rajesh Khanna once admitted, “I didn’t have the reference point. Today Amitabh has me as a reference. There was never a star before me. I admit that I made mistakes. But you can’t blame me. I thought that the kind of success I enjoyed could never ever end. ”

To conclude, Salim Khan’s words sums it well, “Nobody really knew Rajesh Khanna. But this book comes the closest to understanding him.”

(This is an old blog-post that I have republished here.)

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Title: Rajesh Khanna- The Untold Story of India's First Superstar’

Author: Yasser Usman

Publication Year: 2014

Language: English

Pages: 352

Rating: 3/5