EK BUJHTE SITAARE KI WOH KAALI KAALI SI AUR KHAALI KHAALI SA AAKHIRI JANAMDIN

The more I think about Rajesh Khanna, the more I am tempted to believe that he was sent into this world to be an ambassador who would send out a message that nothing is permanent neither success, nor fame, not popularity, not all the bungalows and cars and wealth and specially not all the admiration of people which lasts only for a short while and then fades away never to return again and man again becomes one big 'SHUNYA' and craves and cries out for success and for the good old days to return , but it is too late because every door that was once ever willing to welcome him slams the doors in his face - ALI PETER JOHN

Rajesh Khanna had seen the kind of success no star before him had seen. He had made all the ruling stars feel extremely insecure and had made some of them lose hope and confidence in themselves.

There was a time when he had fifteen big hits in a row and he was treated like God. Girls kissed his cars and the walls of his house when they couldn't see him and many of them wrote love letters to him in their own blood and attached doctor's certificates to prove that the blood used to write those letters was genuine.

And this kind of madness could have driven any human being mad and that is just what happened to Jatin Khanna who had become Rajesh Khanna and had stopped behaving like a human being.

But this good time couldn't last forever. And when he started falling from grace, I remembered the statement made by Devanand when a leading journalist asked him what he thought about a new phenomenon called Rajesh Khanna and he had said,"Talk to me after 25 years".

Rajesh Khanna had started falling before 25 years. All his last ten films flopped at the box office and he found it difficult what was happening to him, the man who his cronies called 'Aaka'( God).

And very soon he was ousted by a tall young man who he once called a Panauti who would never be able to make it.

The final call was clearly written on the wall. And then he fell and couldn't be back however hard he and his friends and admirers tried...

I had become a very good friend of his towards the last stages of his super stardom and I saw how scared and nervous he was about loosing his place in the sun.

He was now sitting alone in his office on Linking road on the third floor and looking out and thinking about the glorious past.

There was a time when his birthday on December 29 was celebrated like a National festival and there were bouquets from his bungalow 'Aashirvaad' to the Sea Rock Hotel where Rekha and Shahrukh Khan have their bungalows now.

On one particular birthday, he was sitting alone and drinking with an actor called Shashi kiran who was known for playing college students in films.

I was in a bad mood because I called my beloved on her birthday which was on December 28 and she had not responded and like a typical bhakt of the romantic Rajesh Khanna I too had taken to drinking habit and and had cleanly forgotten the birthday of the friend who was once a superstar.

At 11.30 in the night I received a call from Shashi kiran and he was crying when he was talking to me.

He said, "Kaka ji bilkul akele hain , ek bouquet bhi nahi aaya hai aur woh bahut ro rahe hain.

Aap please aaiye aapko woh bahut yaad kar rahe hain". I wanted to do my best and go to his office where he was celebrating his birthday as some kind of mourning.

I was in no condition to go and by the time I could decide I had fallen asleep, but even in my sleep I could hear my black telephone ringing but I still couldn't gather the courage to leave my house.

The next afternoon I went to meet him like we used to meet on every second day. I found a certain kind of darkness and sadness all over the place and what shocked me the most was there were no messages for him and a single bouquet.

I felt like running away, but he stopped me and said,"Ali, kya tu bhi mera saath chodh dega?"

And before I could answer him he brought out a bottle of Black Label whiskey and said, "Duniya gayi bhaad mein, chalo tum aur hum mera birthday manaate hain".

And we started the celebration at 3:00pm and the celebration ended at 2:00 in the morning when he once again fed me with his own famous hands, the same hands women loved. And he made arrangements to be dropped home.

AISE KAI SITAARE DEKHE HAIN HUMNE LEKIN RAJESH KHANNA JAISA KOI NAHI. BAAR BAAR YEH KHAYAL AATA HAI KI AGAR WOH APNE AAP KO THODA SA SAMBHAAL LETE TOH NAA JAANE WOH SIRF AMAR NAHI LEKINN MAHAA BHI BAN JAATE.