Birth Anniversary: Rajendra Kumar The Jubilee Star

Some 73 years ago, a teenager was among the thousands of refugees who came from Pakistan to seek refuge in India. It was one of the most painful and horrific scenes of the partition of India and Pakistan in the history of modern times. Refugees were fighting to survive, and many thousands were raped, murdered and massacred leading to gang rape. Running through huge crowds at the sight of airplanes dropping packets of food that only a handful of lives were a part of. Kishore tried his best to reach his family to the borders of India. The name of that teenager was Rajendra Kumar Tuli. He saw that one of his younger brothers was dying of hunger. He showed little hope for life but still carried on.

Rajendra Kumar had the identity card of well-known writer and lyricist Rajendra Krishnan. The letter stated that the young and good looking person is interested in working in films as a junior artist or doing any kind of work related to films. The writer took the young man under his wing and introduced him to several filmmakers. The first director who saw some spark in him was Devendra Goyal, who was making his debut with a film called 'Vachan', in which there was another man called Ravi Sharma (Ravi), who was making his debut as a music director.

Rajendra Kumar's role was not that important but he looked impressive. After 'Vachan', no work came to him for a very long time. Mehboob Khan's chief assistant Tak, who was looking for two young actors to play Nargis' sons in a film titled "Mother India", met him and introduced him to Mehboob Khan who signed him as a son. Sunil Dutt was an announcer on Radio Ceylon, and was signed to play the bad son Birju. The film became a classic that it is to this day.

Sunil Dutt signed many big films after the film's release, but Rajendra Kumar had to wait for his big break, which luckily came with a film called 'Goonj Uthi Shehnai'. The subject, the music and the role played by Rajendra Kumar changed his career overnight. He was now one of the most influential heroes in films, with strong story lines, a good role to his credit, and great music. There came a time when Rajendra Kumar became more popular than other heroes. He was considered a lucky hero as every film in which he was cast as the hero was a super hit and his films ran for weeks. His was a phenomenal success story and soon he came to be known as 'Jubilee Kumar'.

He was successful in all but not recognized as a great actor. I have tried to copy the great Dilip Kumar in his mannerisms, his dialogue delivery and sometimes even his hair style, but all his attempts failed as he could not live up to Dilip Kumar's standards. The legend he came into was a film called 'Gehra Daag' which he released at the same time as the release of Dilip Kumar's 'Ganga Jamuna' but again all his efforts failed and he Played the typical romantic hero for more than three decades.

He was the most popular actor, the highest paid and every filmmaker wanted to work with him because his name meant guaranteed success. When it came to his worth, he was paid more than all other stars including the three biggies, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor. He has won appreciation in films like 'Mere Mehboob', 'Arzoo', 'Dil Ek Mandir', 'Aman', 'Sooraj', 'Sasural', 'Gharana', 'Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan' and 'Sangam'. Which marked the high point of his career as he was selected to play the role Dilip Kumar was to play in Raj Kapoor's 'Sangam', which featured Raj Kapoor and Vyjayanthimala in other lead roles.

'Sangam' brought some accolades, but strangely also marked the beginning of the downfall of 'Jubilee Star'. Soon he stopped getting offers. It was at this time, that he decided to do any sort of role and as a result did films like 'Do Jasoos' (which he did with his 'Sangam' co-star and best friend Raj Kapoor). Saajan Bina Suhagan' (with Nutan and baby Padmini Kolhapure playing the lead roles) and 'Do Phool' (with his old friend and colleague Sunil Dutt).

He then thought of a strange idea. He saw a star in his son Kumar Gaurav and took the risk of launching him as the hero in a film titled 'Love Story'. The film was a smash hit and Kumar Gaurav became a star and his father took charge of his career and saw to it that his son became as popular as the biggest superstar Rajesh Khanna. He also accused the producer of not paying any kind of cost to any other star.

It was Kumar Gaurav who started a whole new wave with sons of senior stars making their debut in films, the most popular being Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt. Unfortunately, Kumar Gaurav lasted just five years and his father saw his son, who was charging Rs 21 lakh in the early 80s, had to accept offers for only Rs one lakh. Kumar Sahib, as he was known in the industry, however, was also a shrewd businessman and had invested his money in a variety of businesses, which brought him a sizeable income. He built his palatial bungalow on Pali Hill which also had the best recording and dubbing studios attached to the Preview Theatre. He was the first person to start this trend.

Although time had other plans for him. He fell victim to a disease that even some of the best doctors in the world could not cure. He left Mumbai and spent time with his daughter Dimple in London. He came back and passed away within a week. Now his bungalow has been demolished. There is a huge marble plaque outside his bungalow with his name 'Padma Shri Rajendra Kumar' written on it. He was rarely recognized as a good or great actor, but he will always be remembered as a man who started out as a teenager literally scavenging for food and then became one of the richest men in the country. Became one of the stars.

He had plans to join politics and could have contested on a Congress ticket from Delhi or Mumbai, but preferred to support his friend Sunil Dutt and gave up his ambition.

He had friends in high places and all walks of life. His friends included the founder of the Indian Express group of newspapers, Ramnath Goenka and his son BD Goenka, the Tatas, the Birlas, the Mafatlals and even Dhirubhai Ambani who had just started his empire. Dr. B.K.Goyal, eminent lawyers Ram Jethmalani, Nani Palkhivala and Soli Sorabjee were just a few of them. He had some of his best business contacts in the South.

He was a very ardent Arya Samajist, but eventually he found his guru in Swami Muktananda

He was overjoyed when his son Kumar Gaurav became a star, but the same son blamed his father when his son misjudged the decisions taken by his father. They stopped speaking and the son left his father's house with his wife Namrata (who was the daughter of his friend Sunil Dutt and Nargis) and went to live in an apartment gifted to him by his brother-in-law Sanjay Dutt. .

His daughter Dimple who was away from the country for the last almost 25 years came back to Mumbai and wrote a biopic on her father which was launched by Salman Khan!