First SUPER STAR in indian cinema Rajesh Khanna never acted in a Bengali film, a number of the first superstar's memorable films, dialogues and songs had a 'BANGAL connection'.
"He never acted in a Bengali film. But right from the
late 1960s to the seventies he was the top star and he worked
with the top directors of his era, most of whom were
Bengalis," film historian S M M Ausaja told here.
In Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 1971 film 'Anand', Khanna
delivered some of Indian cinema's memorable dialogues.
The use of the word 'babu moshai' for Amitabh
Bachchan, who played a Bengali doctor Bhaskar Banerjee in the
film, is so deeply etched in the minds of Indians that it has
almost become a synonym for Bengalis for the rest of the
countrymen.
"In a dhoti and kurta, you showed the rest of India
how truly elegant Bengal was. Without you the screen will be
robbed of much of its silver," said National Award winning
director Rituparno Ghosh.
The 1969 Hindi film 'Aradhana' which was Khanna's
first superhit film had a strong Bengal connection.
It was directed by the Bengal-born Shakti Samanta with
Bengali actress Sharmila Tagore starring opposite him, while
the hit song 'Roop Tera Mastana', was sung by Kishore Kumar.
He kept on repeating his onscreen chemistry with not
only Sharmila, Samanta and Kishore, but also soon built up
successful alliances with stalwarts like Hrishikesh Mukherjee
and R D Burman.
Even in his personal life, Khanna was known to be friends
with the 'king of playback singing' Kishore Kumar and musician
R D Burman as the trio went on to work together in about
thirty films.
Kumar once credited Khanna for his resurgence and even
sang for free in 'Alag Alag', the first film produced by the
superstar.
With Sharmila, he repeated their timeless magic in films
like 'Safar', 'Avishkaar' and 'Amar Prem'.
Khanna acted in the Hindi remakes of some Bengali films
like 'Anurodh' ('Deya Neya') and 'Khamoshi' ('Deep Jwele
Jaai').
His classic film 'Bawarchi' was inspired by Tapan Sinha's
Bengali film 'Galpa Holeo Satyi' (1966).
The first actress opposite him was a Bengali, Indrani
Mukherjee, his debut film 'Aakhri Khat' (Last Letter) in 1966.
Such was his popularity in Kolkata that during the
shooting of 'Amar Prem', the producers had to create a replica
of the Howrah Bridge in a studio as filming on it would have
been impossible because of his fan following.
With four trophies, he holds the record for winning
the maximum number of best actor awards from the Bengal Film
Journalist Association and also the most number of
nominations.
"He never acted in a Bengali film. But right from the
late 1960s to the seventies he was the top star and he worked
with the top directors of his era, most of whom were
Bengalis," film historian S M M Ausaja told here.
In Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 1971 film 'Anand', Khanna
delivered some of Indian cinema's memorable dialogues.
The use of the word 'babu moshai' for Amitabh
Bachchan, who played a Bengali doctor Bhaskar Banerjee in the
film, is so deeply etched in the minds of Indians that it has
almost become a synonym for Bengalis for the rest of the
countrymen.
"In a dhoti and kurta, you showed the rest of India
how truly elegant Bengal was. Without you the screen will be
robbed of much of its silver," said National Award winning
director Rituparno Ghosh.
The 1969 Hindi film 'Aradhana' which was Khanna's
first superhit film had a strong Bengal connection.
It was directed by the Bengal-born Shakti Samanta with
Bengali actress Sharmila Tagore starring opposite him, while
the hit song 'Roop Tera Mastana', was sung by Kishore Kumar.
He kept on repeating his onscreen chemistry with not
only Sharmila, Samanta and Kishore, but also soon built up
successful alliances with stalwarts like Hrishikesh Mukherjee
and R D Burman.
Even in his personal life, Khanna was known to be friends
with the 'king of playback singing' Kishore Kumar and musician
R D Burman as the trio went on to work together in about
thirty films.
Kumar once credited Khanna for his resurgence and even
sang for free in 'Alag Alag', the first film produced by the
superstar.
With Sharmila, he repeated their timeless magic in films
like 'Safar', 'Avishkaar' and 'Amar Prem'.
Khanna acted in the Hindi remakes of some Bengali films
like 'Anurodh' ('Deya Neya') and 'Khamoshi' ('Deep Jwele
Jaai').
His classic film 'Bawarchi' was inspired by Tapan Sinha's
Bengali film 'Galpa Holeo Satyi' (1966).
The first actress opposite him was a Bengali, Indrani
Mukherjee, his debut film 'Aakhri Khat' (Last Letter) in 1966.
Such was his popularity in Kolkata that during the
shooting of 'Amar Prem', the producers had to create a replica
of the Howrah Bridge in a studio as filming on it would have
been impossible because of his fan following.
With four trophies, he holds the record for winning
the maximum number of best actor awards from the Bengal Film
Journalist Association and also the most number of
nominations.
No comments:
Post a Comment