Rajesh Khanna is called India’s first ‘superstar’ and he did not get this title without reason. During his time, crores of people were crazy about him, but women were the most crazy about him. Every day around 10,000 girls used to stand for hours outside his house ‘Aashirvad’ just to get a glimpse. Many girls had filled his car with lipstick and kisses.
Fans were crazy about him and his level of popularity at that time was so high that it was as if a god was being worshipped. Rajesh Khanna’s smile, his style, his romantic personality – everything touched the hearts of girls. And all this was happening at a time when there were no tools like internet, selfie and social media. The passion of his fans was such that it is still narrated like stories.
When Mumtaz became Rajesh’s neighbor and onscreen girlfriend
The pairing of Mumtaz and Rajesh Khanna was greatly liked by the audience. Both of them gave many blockbuster films together and every time their chemistry created magic. The special thing was that Mumtaz was not only Rajesh Khanna’s co-star but also his neighbour. His house was right next to Rajesh Khanna’s bungalow. While ordinary girls would stand in a crowd to see him, Mumtaz would simply peek through the window and go straight to his house. This closeness hurt people, especially those thousands of girls who were jealous of Mumtaz that she was getting a chance to romance Rajesh Khanna.
Jealousy, conflict and helplessness of women
Mumtaz had told that when she used to go for outdoor shooting with Rajesh Khanna, the girls present there would stare at her and make strange facial expressions. She did not hate him, but was jealous.
The reason for this jealousy was not limited to films only, but it reflects the emotional depth of that period when the audience, especially women, felt real connected with the artists. Mumtaz took it in stride and never considered herself special, even though the entire country was envious of her fate.
Superstar shine and setting sun
The higher Rajesh Khanna reached, the faster his career started declining. By the end of the 1970s, when Amitabh Bachchan took over Bollywood with his angry young man image, Rajesh Khanna’s romantic hero image gradually began to recede.
He married a young Dimple Kapadia, which shocked everyone. But this relationship did not last long and Dimple left him after about a decade. Earlier he was in a relationship with Anju Mahendru, but he suddenly broke that relationship.
Rajesh Khanna’s story is not just that of an actor, but the heartbeat of that era in which cinema, emotion and stardom were completely fused with each other. The madness that surrounded him is beyond imagination for any star today. For co-star and neighbor Mumtaz, the experience was even more special because she saw and lived that passion up close.