Rajesh Khanna Stardom: Rajesh Khanna is called the first superstar of Bollywood. He was the actor who achieved the superstar status for actors. Rajesh Khanna had such a fire in his days that the film used to be a superhit with his presence. Something similar happened with Hema Malini. Rajesh Khanna’s 15-minute role in his film made the film a blockbuster.
The whole matter is of 1971. This year Ramesh Sippy’s first film Andaz was released. Andaz was a blockbuster film. The film stars Hema Malini and Shammi Kapoor in the lead roles.
Salim had told in an interview that we also had a feeling that the film might not be run in the name of Shammi Kapoor and Hema Malini only. We saw Rajesh Khanna’s fire at that time.
He spoke to Javed Akhtar and wrote a 15-minute guest role for Rajesh Khanna. According to the story, Rajesh Khanna comes on screen as Hema Malini’s fiance. He sings a song and then he dies.
The lyrics of the song that were filmed on Rajesh Khanna were – Zindagi Ek Saafar Hai Suhana. The song became a super-duper hit.
And on the film’s posters, Rajesh Khanna was shown sitting on a bike with goggles. The audience was mad with Rajesh Khanna’s presence. With the release of the film, long queues started appearing in theaters and the film proved to be a blockbuster.
According to Salim Khan, it was a period when films were not a hit. Only Rajesh Khanna used to be a hit.
