Invisible Jottings From The Diary Of An Unusual Traveller

Ali Peter John

The superstar was rapidly sliding down to a place he had never imagined he would reach. He had lost out on his superstardom to Amitabh Bachchan. He had no films on hand. He was a burnt-out case in politics before he could make any impact as a politician. He had gone up to the terrace of his bungalow and cried out in desperation, “Why me, Oh God?”.

But, yet, he still had lakhs of fans who had faith in him and loved him the same way they had been loving him.

A women’s organization asked me if I could bring ‘Kakaji’ to their annual function in Calcutta. I talked to the ex-superstar and was very surprised when the man who used to make people wait and make them go in and out of the office for months before he could say yes or no and it was mostly no, he accepted my invitation instantly.

We reached Calcutta and were put up in his favourite hotel, The Park. We were driven to the venue of the function in a Mercedes to the venue and he came back alive when he saw more than 20,000 women gathered on the ground, waiting to have a ‘Darshan’ of the man who was once called ‘God’. He whispered in my ears and said, “Ali, lagta hai main abhi bhi superstar hoon.” He made the same kind of speech he made at any function and the women went crazy and had to be lathi-charged. He was very happy that night and we both got drunk till two in the morning. I had never seen him like this in a long time.

The next morning, he was invited to the residence of the newly elected Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee. Her residence at Kalighat took Khanna totally unaware. It was like one large hut. The new CM received Khanna at the entrance as thousands of people waited to have a glimpse of Rajesh Khanna.

Khanna and the CM had a private meeting in her office which was a small room with a wooden table and colourful plastic chairs all around. The CM just in a plain white saree made tea for Khanna herself. She then took Khanna all around her palatial house and Khanna just followed her in awe. Khanna left after an hour and was personally seen off by the CM.

On our way back, Khanna told me, “Take my words, Ali, ye aurat jitni chhoti dikhti hai, utni andar se bohot taaqatvar hai. Dekhna, ek din ye Bharat ki bohot badi neta banegi, mujhe toh lagta hai ki ismein Indira Gandhi jaise banne ki saari khoobiyan hai” and then I don’t know why he said, “Kal main rahu ya nahi rahu Mamata ji desh mein ek mahaan shakti banegi”. For the rest of the day ‘The Rajesh Khanna’ only talked about Mamata Banerjee and how much he was impressed by her.

On the way to the airport there were thousands of people lining up the roads on both sides and the shine and the smile of the superstar was back on his face and he kept speaking to himself.

Two months later, he was diagnosed for cancer of the liver. All efforts made by the doctors and the support of his family which had come back to him, couldn’t save him till he finally died in his bungalow, Aashirvaad and for reasons only known to God and all those powers that guide light, I was the first outsider to see his dead body being brought down by his servants in one of the most dirty blankets I have seen a dead body being brought down in.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Rajesh Khanna, Mamata Banerjee