- Enjoyed a godlike status in the period 1969-1976 with female fans writing letters in blood to him that is for eight years. His fans used to kiss the dust unsettled by the tires of his car and females used to apply the mud along the path through which Khanna walked as the sin-door on their forehead.Girls even married his photographs and elderly women prayed to gods if he fell ill. The hysteria was unique and unseen before Khanna came into the film industry & has not been repeated by any other actor.
- He was adopted by his rich parents who were relatives of biological parents.
- Supported R.D.Burman in the period 1985-94 when many of producers had started avoiding RD and ensured producers of his films take R.D.Burman as the music director for his film. Even after death of Kishore Kumar, he worked with R.D.Burman till R.D's death(from Baharaon Ke Sapne in 1967 to Sautela Bhai in 1996). Similarly Khanna backed Kishore Kumar, during Kishore's lean phase as playback singer and insisted to producers and composers to make Kishore sing songs in his films from 1969-72 which helped Kishore resurrect his singing career and offers for him to sing in films across genres and for other actors-directors kept increasing from 1971-1987. Kishore worked with Rajesh from 1969 till 1987.
- He was first choice for Mr. India but Khanna declined it telling the director that invisibility factor was the real hero and that actor of his stature was not needed, so it was better to use a newcomer.
- The pair Rajesh Khanna-Mumtaz holds the record for being the only romantic on screen pair in both Indian and Hindi Cinema to have had 100% success ratio at the box office. Rajesh Khanna has 8 successive platinum jubilee blockbusters opposite Mumtaz and all of them were critically acclaimed.
- Highest paid Indian actor in 1969-1987 and shared the highest paid actor tag with Amitabh in 1980-1987 period.
- Of the 74 Golden Jubilee Hits he had from 1966-1991, 48 were platinum Jubilee Hits which ran more than 75 weeks in each theater across India.
- Hindi megastar
- Aakhri Khat, Rajesh Khanna's first ever released film, was selected for the Oscars in the best foreign language entry in 1967 and was a box office hit in 1966.
- Used to sit for music sessions with the music directors and singers for the films with him in lead role. He used to select the tune best suited for the film and used to give suggestions to the music directors.
- Known as the first Superstar of Hindi Cinema since 1969 after release of Aradhana and known as the only Hindi film hero with maximum solo hero films since 1987. He is know as Pehnomenon for giving 17 Consecutive Golden Jubilee Hits from Aradhana to Haathi Mere Saathi which includes 15 consecutive solo hit films and 2 multi-star-cast films Andaz and Marayada.
- Record Holder of 74 Golden Jubilee Hits (which includes 48 Platinum Jubilee Hits) and 22 Silver Jubilee Hits from 1967-1991 and 9 average hits from 1976-1996.
- Kishore Kumar and R.D.Burman were Rajesh Khanna's closest friends in the film industry. He always insisted on having Anand Bakshi as the lyricist of the songs in his films.
- Saroja Devi once in an interview in 2012 said that many actors from Hindi films had come before Rajesh Khanna and many came even after him from Hindi film industry but none of them managed to create even a fraction of the impact that Rajesh Khanna had on South Indian audiences from 1969-1991. Many South Indians from 1969-1991 used to appreciate his movies, sing songs without knowing the full meaning of some, and his movies increased the desire in them to learn the language Hindi. Many South Indians were named Rajesh from 1969-1991 and are continued to be named so even today.
- Jeetendra and Rajesh Khanna studied as batch-mates in same school St. Sebastian Goan High School in Girgaum and but Rajesh went to Kishinchand Chellaram College for college. and Jeetendra went to Siddhant College.Khanna encouraged actor Jeetendra to go into movies and even taught Jeetendra how to by heart and deliver lines when Jeetendra went for his first film audition for Geet Gata Patharone. Later after Rajesh Khanna became superstar since 1969, Jeetendra and Rajesh acted in 3 hit commercial films- Dharm Kanta, Nishaan, Maqsad. Also Jeetendra made guest appearance in Rajesh's home production Roti and also in Begunnah.
- Rajesh Khanna was diagnosed with cancer in September 2011 but he asked his family to not disclose this to media and friends and was discharged after treatment in October 2011. He lost 30 kilograms between September 2011-May 2012 and looked from Jan 2012 as thin as he was in his debut film Raaz in 1967. He even campaigned for Congress for Jan 2012 elections in Punjab and gave election speeches expressing his support for Congress in Jan 2012. He came at Apsara Awards 2012 accept award for his contribution to Indian Cinema in Jan 2012. In April he was admitted for the 2nd time in hospital but went on to shoot the Advertisement directed by Balki in April 2012 immediately after being discharged from hospital and none of the Balki's crew members or Balki or the media were aware that Khanna had cancer - which was the real cause for him loosing weight drastically and appearing very weak.
- Rajesh Khanna's 27th birthday in 1969 was celebrated grandly at Mumbai's Hotel Ambassador by film industry as the filmmakers realized he was the first Superstar. A picture was captured by lens-man Shyam Aurangabadkar wherein filmmaker GP Sippy who introduced Khanna in his 1967 film Raaz, Raj Kapoor, Mala Sinha, Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra, Manu Narang (from Ambassador hotel) and Nanda, B.R.Chopra stand, with Khanna being at the center. Dharmendra always had the habit to kiss Rajesh on his cheeks whenever they met at functions for Dharmendra regarded Khanna as younger brother.
- Was a Member of the Indian Parliament representing the New Delhi constituency from 1992-1996. He has campaigned for Congress Party at the insistence of Rajiv Gandhi and gave election speeches supporting Congress since 1984 and continued to do so till January 2012. He came close to defeating L.K. Advani in Delhi elections in 1991 but lost by 1589 votes after-which he stood at the counting station saying cheating has taken place and controversy erupted and Advani had to vacate the constituency. Rajesh then got elected in by-elections defeating BJP leader by 25000 votes at the same constituency.
- Rajesh Khanna funeral saw one of the largest turnovers in the country as it was attended by 9 lakh people on 19 July 2012 with fans from all over India and some even from California, Spain, Australia, Singapore landed in the morning of 19th July . For first time in 21st century for any actor's death day, funeral day and prayer meeting held on 4th day - all 3 occasions were extensively covered by media. This kind of respect was earlier seen only in cases of funeral of Kishore, Rafi and MGR.
- Rajesh Khanna gifted to one of his fan named Vipin Oberoi a small amount of money and asked him to open an eatery in a particular area in Delhi in early 1990's .Now since early 1990's this eatery has become famous by the name 'The Treat'. Khanna used to come to this outlet regularly when he visited Delhi and visited about 500 times till 2011 with other film-stars and politicians, mostly at night. Vipin Oberoi, who runs a food van 'The Treat' or Rajesh Khanni ki Van in Chanakyapuri, Delhi. The owner Mr. Oberoi has devoted the entire van - its outlook and the ambience - to the Superstar. The van welcomes you from far off with dazzling lights around Rajesh Khanna's posters and His songs always on the play-list.
- Rajesh khanna famously set quite a few fashion trends, be it his unique hairstyle, his bell-bottom trousers, his safari suits, his style of wearing belt on shirts, or his famous short kurta.
- He was called Kaka, since childhood, which meant Baby faced Boy in Punjabi. He was called this name by his parents since his childhood and later by his wife, his school and college friends and by his friends in the film industry.
- When Rajesh Khanna was shooting in Nainital for Kati Patang in 1970, the boots around Naini Lake were moored for 3 days. There were thousands of people thronging the shooting that even the police had a tough time controlling them. Kati Patang was amongst one of the first movies to be shot in Nainital and the film's popularity put the hill station on the tourist map. When Rajesh Khanna returned to Nainital after 33 years to shoot for 'Jaana', old women and collegians alike thronged him again and he was floored by the reception he got.
- Rajesh Khanna was highly influential as a major uniting factor during the prevalent turbulent North-South divide on the declaring Hindi as the national language and Southern state especially Madras opposing Hindi language and this issue existed in India between 1965-1985 but he was loved by the audiences from South very much that his films always did well there and had huge fan following. This clearly symbolized his charisma and significance as a true super-star of Indian Cinema. Infact many of his movies used to run for minimum of 100-150 days in the various cities of southern states of India and some of his films even completed golden and platinum jubilee.
- In the late 1961 when he was in KC college for his final year, he used to do lots of plays and during free time used to hung out on the pavement outside Churchgate's once-trendy Gaylord restaurant. Girls would hang out from the balconies in the adjoining buildings to chat with the wannabe actor but the movie producers/merchants run away saying otherwise Khanna would pester them up. Khanna used to go up to any person belonging to film industry who used to visit Chruchgate area and start asking them to give him small junior artiste roles or supporting roles. He spoke Hindi fluently, displayed attitude and the Churchgate college girls would swoon that from certain angles he looked like Alain Delon. Music composers Shankar-Jaikishan who were regulars at the Gaylord disclosed in 1969 after Aradana became a hit that they had seen many times Rajesh Khanna in 1962-63 period in that hotel but they never had interacted with him.
- Rajesh Khanna was good at playing drums and bongo since his secondary school days. He had immense interest in music and that's why music directors would sit with him while deciding on final tunes for his films. His only weakness was he never had learned dancing as he entered theatre by age of 10 and acted in films from age of 23. But he had a good interest in music so could give extremely nice effect while performing in songs such that viewer would feel Rajesh was himself feeling the words in lyrics and singing the song. He would move himself in exact synchronization with the music beat, sound from the musical instrument and mood of the song in the first shot of the song.But he would insist on giving repeated retakes, if his co-stars do not perfectly match the beats of the song. He tirelessly gave repeated shots during shooting until the best one was achieved.Example Hoti Hai Jab Kisise Preet from Prem Bandhan shooting involved 14 retakes, as Rekha's expressions did not match the song perfectly as per Khanna and even the song Suno Kaho, director himself wanted both Khanna and Mumtaz to do 12 retakes so that the song video becomes a classic, as the music was already awesome.
- Starred in the shelved film "Doosra Janam"(1976). Starring Rajesh Khanna, Music by Laxmikant Pyarelal, Produced by Jayant M. Shah, Directed by R.K. Nayyar.
- On the eve of the centenary celebrations of Indian Cinema in 2013, Khanna was voted as the 9th greatest Bollywood star of all-time by UK's Eastern Eye magazine.
- The film Bobby was actually made to pay the debts incurred due to failure of Mera Naam Joker. By Raj Kapoor and Raj wanted to make a love story with Rajesh Khanna in the lead and he did not have money to cast superstar Rajesh Khanna in the film. So Raj decided to cast Rishi Kapoor in the the lead and converted the story Bobby into a teen love story and thus Rishi made his debut as an adult actor by default.
- Father of actresses Twinkle Khanna and Rinke Khanna. Became a grandfather when Twinkle gave birth to a son, Araav in 2002 and then again in 2004 when Rinke gave birth to a daughter.
- Father-in-law of superstar Akshay Kumar.
- He was a life member of International Film And Television Research Centre and International Film And Television Club Of Asian Academy Of Film And Television.
- Holds record for most number of win for Best actor award in Bengal Film Journalist Association Awards (4 awards) and most number of nominations in BFJA awards (25 nominations) for Best Actor. He has won Filmfare Best Actor Awards for 3 times and was nominated for 14 times. Has also won Filmfare Award for effective special appearance for Anuraag in 1973 and Filmfare special award in 1991 for his record of maximum solo hero films till 1991- 101 in 25 years.Has won most number of All India Critics Award for Best Actor for a record 7 times and was nominated for this award 10 times.
- Khanna has done 180 films in 47 years from 1966-2012 before his death. Of them 163 are feature films as an actor and 17 short films. His 106 solo hero films includes 97 released solo hero films and 9 unreleased solo hero films. His 22 multi-star films includes 2 unreleased.
- The Punjabi film Sawa Lakh Se Ek Ladaun in 1976, starring Dara Singh as the lead hero, had Khanna in special appearance for a Qawalli song and the film turned out to be the biggest box office hit of 1976 in Punjabi films and biggest gross ever.
- Had 36 Golden Jubliee hits in short span of 1967-1975 of which 22 were platinum jubilee hits. In 1976-1978 his only Golden Jubliee Hits were Sawa Lakh Se Ek Ladaun, Anurodh, Chhailla Babu and of them Anurodh and Chailla Babu became platinum jubilee hit and his guest appearances in Hatayara and Ginny Aur Jhonny became silver jubilee hits and Karm became a average hit. In 1979-1996 he had 35 more Golden Jubliee hits, of which 25 became platinum jubilee hits and in addition had 14 silver jubilee hits and 9 average hits.
- Only Indian actor with minimum average of 2 films releasing every year for 25 years continuously as the Main Lead Hero from 1969-1991. Has 6 releases as main lead hero in the years 1970 and 1974, 5 each in 1969, 1980 and 1983, 7 in 1971, 1984 and 1986, 9 in 1972 ,8 in 1977, 4 each in the years 1981, 1982 and 1987, 3 each in 1967,1973,1976, 1978, 1979 and 1991 and a record of 11 releases as the main lead hero in 1985.
- Had eight hits in the year 1985 from the 11 films with him as the lead hero which were Hum Dono, Babu, Zamana, Masterji, Akhir Kyun, Insaaf Main Karoonga, Durgaa and Bewafai.
- Only Hindi actor with the highest number of films as the solo lead hero - 106 and lowest multi star movies - 22. This figure 106 includes 97 released solo hero films and 9 unreleased solo hero films till 2013. Riyasat is his 106th solo hero film and 97th released solo hero film.
- 82 of the 127 films with Khanna as the lead protagonist (of them 117 released and 11 unreleased) were critically acclaimed films with ratings above 4 stars out of 5 by film reviewers of various newspapers unanimously .
- Rajesh Khanna gave 91 box office hits in the period 1966-2012 of the 128 films he appeared in as the main lead protagonist in the period 1966-2012. 0f these 128 films - 117 released and 11 unreleased. Of these 117 released films - 91 box office hits and 26 were flops.
- Rajesh Khanna starred in Souten, which was the first ever film of any country to be shot in Mauritius. The film was platinum Jubilee hit across India, Asia and Mauritius too.
- His biological parents were Lala Hira Nand Khanna and Chandrani Khanna. His foster parents were Chunnilal Khanna and Lellawati Khanna. His foster father ran Chunnilal Khanna and Company in Thakurdwar, Charni road from 1940's, 50's and 60's.His biological father worked as a headmaster in MC School in Burewala, Pakistan and so had an ancestral house named 'Khanna Haveli' in Burewala, district Vehari, Province of Punjab, Pakistan from 1920's. Rajesh Khanna was born at his mother's hometown in Amritsar. Rajesh Khanna's parents's hometown was Amritsar, where they shifted back in 1948 immediately after Partition leaving the Burewala ancestral house.
- Though the 1966 box office hit Akhri Khat was his first release as the lead hero, his debut film is Raaz. In the very first film Raaz for which he shot, he was given a double role and his performance was critically acclaimed and Raaz was a box office hit.
- Kashmir was like a second home to Rajesh and he was fond of getting at-least one song from his films shot at Kashmir and would insist about this to directors . Shooting of songs from his 15 films - Aan Milo Sajna, Roti, Aap Ki Kasam, Chhailla Babu, Bundalbaaz, Prem Bandhan, Dard ,Avtaar, Asha Jyoti, Awaaz, Alag Alag, Insaaf Main Karoonga, Awara Baap, Bewafai and Adhikar took place in Kashmir. Amarnath temple appears in both Aap Ki Kasam and Avtaar. Aradhana and Anurodh were shot in Darjeeling in Sikkim, Raaz and Aakhri Khat in Kulu Manali and Kudrat in Shimla in Himachal Pradesh and Karm was extensively shot in Rishikesh and the school scenes of Karm show campus of Hampton Court School of Mussorie in Dehradun district in Uttarkand and also the Mohkampur area of the Doon valley . Ghar Ka Chirag was shot in Wynberg Allen school in Mussorie. 'Daag' was the first film to be shot in Chail Palace in Shimla and Kati Patang made Nainital's Bhimtal Lake and Naini Lake in Uttarakhand and also Kandala a famous tourist destination. Mehbooba was shot at Mysore Palace and Brindavan Gardens and Haathi Mere Saathi across Ooty, Nungambakkam and Madras. Joroo ka Ghulam 's certain scenes were shot in Bombay right on Carter Road and near National College Bandra and even in Aakhri Khat - places like Mahim (St. Michael's church), and Sitla Devi Temple, Mahim Creek are shown.First Indian film ever to be shot at Mauritius was Souten and first film of Rajesh shot abroad was Ashiq Hun Baharon Ka in 1977 in Switzerland.
- Rajesh underwent chemotherapy sessions in Jan-Feb 2012 and apart from family, only few from film industry like Reena Roy, Mumtaz, Rakhee were allowed by Khanna in the period Jan-July 2012, when his health began deteriorating, to know that he had cancer and he allowed them to meet him at his home. Khanna asked his family members the very first time he was admitted in hospital in Sep 2011, that the real cause of his illness should not be told to media and film industry. Media and rest of film-industry came to know only on day of his death that he was having cancer and media was of opinion that he was critically ill so was losing weight since October 2011, but were not sure of the reason for illness. He appeared very thin when he attended Apsara Awards 2012 in Jan 2012 but his voice was energetic as usual. He even campaigned for INC and gave election speeches in Jan 2012 in Punjab asking people to support Congress always. He appeared weaker in the advertisement he shot in April 2012.
- Rajesh Khanna's 1978 film Bhola Bhala recovered its cost within 8 weeks of its release and was a hit and ran for 15-20 weeks but since it did not complete a 25 week run at box-office it was not publicized as a hit in 1978 and critics came down heavily on the film for one sole reason that Rajesh Khanna's second character as a villain in the film did not have voice of Khanna but instead was dubbed by some-one else. So producer V.Gopi Krishna and distributors smartly got film released in rural areas and north-eastern and central India to make the film a hit whereas the film flopped in city areas.
- Though Rajesh Khanna is known as the Prince of Romance for his realistic presentation of romance, he has done only 23 full length films and each of them handled different subjects of romance. Khanna starred in very few romance dramas Aradhana, Kati Patang, Mehboob Ki Mehndi, Amar Prem, Mere Jeevan Saathi , Daag, Aap Ki Kasam, Prem Nagar, Prem Kahani, Mehbooba, Anurodh, Aashiq Hoon Baharon Ka, Palkon Ki Chaon Mein, Prem Bandhan, Kudrat, Fiffty Fiffty, Dil-E-Nadaan, Souten, Asha Jyoti, Bewafai, Alag Alag, Oonche Log and Anokha Rishta. Unlike doing run of the mill romantic comedy like Aamir-Salman-SRK did in 1990's to 2006 or like that of Rishi Kapoor's career from 1973-1999 or Imran Khan after 2010, Rajesh did not do all films in romantic genre, Other Rajesh Khanna's films belonged to different genres but always had romance just as an constant element in the film.
- In many of the Rajesh Khanna's films between 1967 to 1974 - the heroine's name would appear ahead of his in the credit titles, as a mark of respect for the woman - especially when actresses junior to him - Sharmila Tagore (in Aradhana and Amar Prem alone), Mumtaz (in Dushman and Aaina alone) and those senior to him like Nanda, Mala Sinha, Sadhana, Asha Parekh, Padmini were given credits first before Rajesh Khanna's name was displayed in the on-screen credits as mark of respect for them being seniors to him. Rajesh even in 1980's asked no credits be mentioned in films Durgaa and asked Smita Patil be credited first in Angaray.
- Besides Simple Kapadia, Rajesh Khanna had another sister in law - Reema Kapdia who did just one film as an actress. She appeared alongside Rakesh Roshan and Marc Zuber in Keshu Ramsay's 'Haveli' (1985).
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content