Rajesh Khanna is described by many as the original superstar of Bollywood, and with all due respect, Rajesh Khanna was the first actor who received the by now legendary letters written in female blood. Rajesh Khanna started his career in the late seventies, and went on to work in movies till the late double ohs. Rajesh Khanna may also be the Bollywood actor to have made the most number of special appearances and cameos in movies - of course, they were not known as cameos back then, but they still were worth Bollywood gold.
However, his last movie, Wajood, was a debacle at the box office, and many trade pundits and industry insiders considered that the movie was made just because Rajesh Khanna's name was attached to it. However, Khanna has been attached to some very prestigious movies, and here are the top ten of them.
14. Souten
Souten was one of Rajesh Khanna's newer movies, and was made by Sawan Kumar, before he was known as Sawan Kumar Tak. The movie starred Rajesh Khanna, Padmini Kolhapure and Tina Munim. In Souten, Rajesh Khanna played the role of Shyam, who is happily married to Rukmini, except for the fact that she is not too keen on motherhood. While their marriage worsens, Shyam meets a younger woman, and how the three get on their lives forms the rest of the movie.
Also, it should be a compliment for Rajesh Khanna to act in a movie titled Souten, which in itself was a bad word at that point of time. The movie was not revolutionary, but back in the eighties, making and acting in a movie about an affair was something that only a Yash Chopra could do, or Rajesh Khanna.
Souten was made by Sawan Kumar Tak, who was known for making female centric movies back then. Rajesh Khanna, Padmini Kolhapure and Tina Munim gave credence to a movie that more or less known as a social/drama back in those days. Rajesh Khanna should be lauded for just appearing in the movie, because this was the first time that a superstar made a main protagonist appearance in a female oriented movie. Souten was also famous for its music track, with 'Shayad Meri Shaadi Ka Khayal' still runs on some music channels.
13. Aap Ki Kasam
Aap Ki Kasam was made by J Om Prakash, and was written by Ram Kelkar and Ramesh Pant. It starred Rajesh Khanna as a husband who doubted his wife's fidelity after she becomes friendly with a character played by Sanjeev Kumar. The movie is one of the many films where the character ages on screen, and does a good job out of it all. This one is famous for the song 'Zindagi ka Safar', which still runs on some music channels in India.
The movie starred Sanjeev Kumar, Mumtaz and Rajesh Khanna. This is the only movie in which Rajesh Khanna and Sanjeev Kumar worked together, but it was one of the many which starred the silver couple, Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz.
This one was also one of the many movies in which Kishore Kumar sung for Rajesh Khanna, and many say that Kishore Kumar created the superstar that is Rajesh Khanna. Some of the other successful songs that this movie had was 'Karwate Badal Te Rahein'.
12. Fiffty Fiffty
This 1981 movie starred Rajesh Khanna and Tina Munim, and had Rajesh Khanna just show off his middle aged paunch. Fiffty Fiffty is a successful and interesting movie, because it had everything that was wanted in the typical Bollywood movies of the eighties. There was a superstar, there was a childhood switcheroo, and there was also a treasure - adding the conman/conwoman aspect to it just made the movie more interesting.
In the movie, Rajesh Khanna plays Kishan, the son of a rich Thakur, who is switched places by an evil, conniving Munimji, just so his son can lead a life of riches. Kishan is then left on the big bad streets of Mumbai, and becomes a master burglar. Here, he meets another burglar - a female one this time - and they decide to work together and divide their profits fifty fifty. Of course, the female burglar, Mary, has other plans, and Kishan soon becomes a pawn in a game about confidence.
The movie was directed by Shomu Mukherjee, and starred Rajesh Khanna, Tina Munim, Om Shivpuri, Ranjeet and Kader Khan.
11. Bawarchi
Bawarchi is a quintessential Bollywood humor movie, and was made by the then comedy baron, Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The movie centered on the life and times of a family, which was famous for not being able to retain a cook for more than three months, also the family is famous for their squabbles and fights.
In this comes Raghu, a strange young man who applies for the job of a cook, and soon brings the family together. Of course, not everything is as simple as it seems, and we find out that Raghu has a murky little past. The movie was actually a remake of a Bengali movie, made by Tapan Sinha, and some of its plot point was then taken by the Govinda starrer, Hero No. 1. This is one of the best clean comedies to come out of Bollywood, and is still counted among the top ten comedy movies in Bollywood.
The movie starred Rajesh Khanna, Jaya Bhaduri, Usha Kiran, Asrani and others. It was directed by Hrishikesh Mukerji.
10. Agar Tum Na Hote
Agar Tum Na Hote is another classic Rajesh Khanna movie, which was all about love, losing and retribution. It starred Raj Babbar, Rajesh Khanna, Rekha and others. The story of this movie was quite different than the various love stories that were in the market at that time. Rajesh Khanna plays a rich industrialist who loses his wife during the birth of his only daughter. The daughter, pining for mother's love becomes kind of a revolt.
At around this time, Rajesh Khanna meets a young photographer, whom he hires for his campaign. That photographer meets a woman, and falls in love with her. Interestingly, the woman is a striking resemblance of the industrialist's dead wife, and he promptly falls in love with her. Things take a weird turn when the photographer has an accident, and is crippled for life, and the industrialist and the model come close to each other.
In an era when movies had their titles in a song, this movie had a favorite song, 'Agar Tum Na Hote', which was created by R D Burman, and the lyrics were given by Gulshan Bawra.
9. Red Rose
This is it, the movie that made Rajesh Khanna famous among the people who wanted more than the drama, romance and usual thrills that Bollywood gave at that time. In Red Rose, Rajesh Khanna played a psychopathic killer who was on the loose - and the character was created before the Ted Bundys and the other killers were even known to Indian audiences. This was one of Rajesh Khanna's later movies, and his 'kaka' hairstyle had taken the place of his earlier lopsided haircut. Many think that this is a B grade movie, and it was also banned because of so many controversial scenes.
It is a fact that Rajesh Khanna, at that time, was not at the peak of his romantic image, which he had created with Haathi Mere Saathi, Kati Patang, etc. However, for the old school public, the very fact that a mainstream lovey dovey actor was playing the role of a psychopathic, serial killer was enough to create a buzz for the movie.
8. Avataar/Swarg
Rajesh Khanna might be one of the very few Bollywood actors who knew when to end a good thing, and he promptly went into character roles in the eighties. In the eighties, he starred in two swash bucklers at the box office, and one of them even had him in the main role, but he was not romancing a leading lady in this one. In Swarg, Rajesh Khanna played a rich landlord who takes to a young man who comes from the village as his house help, much to the chagrin of his younger brothers - who are basically good for nothings.
Soon, the younger brothers and their wives hoodwink the elder brother of his business and the house, and it is the adopted young man who comes to the rescue of the landlord. The movie starred Govinda as the villager. This was the only film in which Govinda and Rajesh Khanna worked together, and was one of the biggest successes of the eighties.
In Avataar, Rajesh Khanna legally gave up his rich, flamboyant, loverboy character and played the role of a middle aged man who had been had by his family. The movie starred Shabana Azmi as his wife, and was one of the first movies to have a middle aged, married character as the main protagonist. This was the movie that brought about a surge of family dramas in Bollywood.
7. IttefaqIttefaq was the first murder mystery/thriller that Rajesh Khanna acted in. The movie had him play a man who is being tried for killing his wife. However, he escapes from prison and takes a young woman hostage. He stays in her house, warding off others who come to her house, and everything is going hunky dory, until Rajesh Khanna finds a dead body in the house. The movie can be considered to be an inspiration for the Urmila Matondkar thriller 'Kaun'.
6. Haathi Mere Saathi
Haathi Mere Saathi was the movie that made Rajesh Khanna the unequivocal superstar of Bollywood. The movie had a very different plot, something that would be considered to be quite innate today, but it surely tugged at people's heartstrings back then. Rajesh Khanna plays a young man who is somewhat of an animal lover and runs a small circus of his own. Things become difficult when he marries, and his wife thinks that he is spending too much time with his animal friends. It worsens when his wife gets the misunderstanding that the elephant -hence the title - friend tried to kill the child, when all the elephant was doing was saving the child from a snake.
Many consider this movie to be one of the best movies made for children. It is also one of the few movies that won an award from the SPCA, the society of prevention of cruelty of animals, and is still remembered for the various scenes between man and animal - something that was a first for that time.
5. Mere Jeevan Saathi
Rajesh Khanna has acted in some movies which were basically the template for the future love stories in Bollywood. In Mere Jeevan Saathi, Rajesh Khanna played a talented artist, who falls in love with a doctor who has just returned from London. Of course, there are some hijinks in their love story. However, the two work it out and just when you think that all is well; the guy is in an accident and loses his eyesight. When he recuperates and returns, he finds out that his lover has married someone else - yes, women were turned around like footballs during that time - at least in the movies.
Once again, Mere Jeevan Saathi was the biggest hit of the year, and had songs by R D Burman. The movie starred Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja, who had become something of a couple after Haathi Mere Saathi.
4. Amar Deep
Amar Deep is another movie that launched Rajesh Khanna's career right up there, once again. The movie starred Rajesh Khanna, Shabana Azmi, Deven Verma and Vinod Mehra. It starred Rajesh Khanna as the adopted son of a criminal don, who gives up a life of crime, but the amount of wealth that his father has amassed - and which goes to him directly - makes him arrogant and obstinate.
He soon falls in love with the daughter of a man working in his house. But the daughter has already fallen in love with someone else. Now, Rajesh Khanna's character hires the man and sends him to such work that he remains outside the house most of the time. Why he does it and what repercussions this has on the lives of the three people form the rest of the movie.
3. Adhikar
Once again, a template movie for love stories that was to come. Rajesh Khanna plays Vishal, a rich jockey who gets married to Jyoti, someone whom he has known all his life. While Vishal becomes richer and successful, his married life falls apart. Soon, Jyoti leaves Vishal and Vishal brings up their daughter alone. When his daughter grows up, Jyoti reenters their lives, and the rest of the movie deals with whether the three reconcile or not.
This movie was another massive success of the year. The movie starred Rajesh Khanna, Tina Munim, Zarina Wahab, Bindu and others. The movie was directed by Vijay Sadanah and produced by Jawaharlal Bafna and Vasant Joshi.
2. Kati Patang
Kati Patang starred the Box Office gold couple of Rajesh Khanna and Asha Parekh. Asha Parekh plays a young woman whose uncle is marrying her off in an arranged marriage. Seeing this, she runs away from home, only to find that the man that she loves is romancing another woman. She now returns to her uncle, but sees that he has died due to the shock of her leaving the house. Nowhere to go now, she meets her widowed friend at the train, and after a train accident, she takes the place of the widow, only to meet the man whom she was supposed to marry - Rajesh Khanna.
The movie is well known for the songs and was one of the first ones to bring item songs, in this case Bindu's 'Mera Naam' to Bollywood. Rajesh Khanna was a dashing, flamboyant personality at that time and Asha Parekh was a killer as a coy beauty.
1. AnandThis was the movie that once again heralded Rajesh Khanna into superstardom. It starred Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, and was more or less centered around the two. Amitabh Bachchan played a doctor, and Rajesh Khanna played Anand, a person who brought fun and happiness into everyone's life, until one day he dies.
The movie is considered to be one of cinema's classics, and is known to once again begin the trend of the main hero dying onscreen. Though the death itself is not portrayed onscreen, the final sequence where Amitabh Bachchan founded his best friend dead through a tape recording is heart rending enough. Some say that Rajesh Khanna gave his first scene not via his acting histrionics, but actually his voice, which reverberated through the room when he spoke to his friends via the radio, saying that he knew he would die, and was just biding time for it.