Raaj Kumar Birthday Special: Know a king who was the king of hearts

He was a very important part of the early stages of my journey to learn more about films and film personalities, a journey I still don't know how and why I decided to find out who I would meet and where. I will reach...

I was a fan of almost every big star as I watched almost every movie every week whether I had to beg, borrow or steal (mostly from my mother's purse or the steel plate in which she kept all her change. Was). I was influenced by Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor in that order and Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman and Nutan were my favorite women. But if one star really made an impact on me, it was Raj Kumar who had his own tune.

When I saw him playing calm and simple roles in the films 'Mother India', 'Godhan', 'Dil Ek Mandir' and 'Paigam' (the puzzle and only film of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar), I saw a different image of him. I had a very different image. Together when they were young and back after years in Subhash Ghai's 'Saudagar'! But a major turning point in his image came when Yash Chopra cast him as Raja, the elder brother of Sunil Dutt and Shashi Kapoor in what can be called his first multi-starrer, 'Waqt'. The way he walked, the clothes he wore and all the dialogues spoken in the film made him a very different star and now he came to be known as 'Jaani'.
I had a great desire to see him and dreamed of meeting him face to face someday. I saw him driving his car for the first time. He was headed to one of the many studios in Andheri and I was excited.

I was in tenth grade when I first heard stories about a personality who had killed a police officer and was acquitted. I had heard stories about how he wore gold wrist watches, gold chains and gold bracelets and how he held positions among people in high places without thinking about the consequences. I also learned that he wore the most expensive wigs of which he had many and I heard how he insulted even the best writers, tearing up the pages on which he wrote dialogues for them and then writing his own dialogues .

I had joined "Screen" and my office was in Express Towers, Nariman Point. There was a time when I left the office a little before six in the evening and that evening I saw the great JRD Tata sitting beside his driver at Tata House in South Bombay and from the other side I saw Raj Kumar driving in his Plymouth. Look, the way a golfer dresses while playing golf. I later learned that he used to go to the US Club in Colaba every evening when he was not shooting! I made a habit of coming down at six in the evening and within a very short time I met two great men, J.R.D. Got a chance to see Tata and 'Jaani' crossing each other. What a sight it was for this boy, who was born and brought up in a village where I had only one house.

I continued to hear stories about the man and his many crazy ways and my desire to confront him grew stronger. Kulbhushan who was a friend of mine (which was also the first name of Raj Kumar) who started as a publicist in films went on to become a producer of big films and one of his biggest films was 'God and Gun' starring Rajkumar. And Jackie Shroff was in the lead role. I was as good as Kulbhushan's unit and I thought this was my best chance to meet the 'mad' Raj Kumar.

The unit was shooting at Chandivali Studio at night. Rajkumar was sitting on a simple cot, away from the crowd made up of unit members. That night I decided not to go back home until I met the prince. I continued walking towards them, while the members of the unit pleaded with me not to take the risk, but I continued towards the man they were all so afraid of.

I reached near the cot and he looked at me like I was a piece of clay and said 'Who is there?' How dare you come here? But I was determined to meet him and turned to the English language and asked him, 'Prince, why did it take me two hours to think of coming to you? Why are people so afraid of you? Before I could say anything else, he said, 'Sit here, next to me, I'll give you five minutes.' We'll talk and if you're a fool like most people in this industry, I'll throw you out along with your body'! I looked at my wristwatch and realized that we had talked for over an hour because the unit was watching us.' We were friends from this night. I went back to the life of a soldier who had conquered a huge war and then went back home more than two hours later because I could not believe that I had met the person about whom I had such horror. Had heard the stories. The next morning, my black phone rang and I was shocked to hear his voice saying, 'How are you my new friend?' I became silent and he said, 'Darling, come and meet me sometime! There's something about you that made me like you". How could I respond to them?

I was bringing him from his Worli house to the Dimple Sound Studio of his colleague in "Mother India", Rajendra Kumar. His car broke down near Lucky restaurant outside Bandra station and he immediately called an auto and boarded it. The driver looked scared and I was surprised. How could the prince travel in an auto? But, he said he was enjoying his first journey in an auto. We reached Dimple Sound Studio and he saw a framed photo of Rajendra Kumar at the entrance and took off his shoes and called his man Ibrahim and asked him, 'Honey why didn't you tell me that he was gone'? This was his typical way of bringing down a man who had the audacity to put his picture on the wall to show how important he was. For Raj Kumar,

His son Puru was involved in a major accident in which he killed a man and was arrested and put behind the bars. Rajkumar reached the police station and asked the inspector in-charge to bring him an English dictionary and asked him to look at it. Meaning of 'accident' and said that he would return the next morning and wanted to see Puru not only released, but also that no charges were filed against him. The case was never heard again.

He always held his meetings and deals involving money at the Jewel of India restaurant near his house and accepted his fees only in cash and all money only in large notes of five hundred rupees. He once saw Zeenat Aman in the trials of a show and said to her, 'You are very beautiful, why don't you work in films?' He loved cigars and pipes and had a large collection from different parts of the world. His wigs were also made in other countries and the only liquor he drank was Black Label Scotch and if he was invited to a party, he sent his brother in advance to see if it was the real Black Label. His decision as to whether Scotch was being served or not and whether to go depended on the report he received from his brother who worked in a five star hotel.

He was the hero of a film named 'Ulfat' with the heroines Waheeda Rehman and Sadhna and it is said that he and producer K. It created havoc for Razdan, a prominent publicist who had worked with Guru Dutt and all the major artistes. The banner unit faced so many problems because of him that, Razdan decided to write a book on his experiences with Raj Kumar and called it 'Journey to Hell'! Although he did not get it published, he was very happy when he filed a case against Raj Kumar and saw him sitting on a wooden bench in the coat he had to share with prostitutes and pimps. Later Rajkumar spent lakhs of rupees to remake the film and release it. He could use any excuse to create problems for his producers. How a Cinematographer G. Singh, who was a chieftain,

There were rumors that he was suffering from throat cancer. He was shooting for Subhash Ghai's 'Saudagar' in those days. One day, a frightened Ghai asked her if the rumor was true and she simply said, 'Darling, if Raj Kumar dies of a cold, he will not die of a cold, but he will die of some major disease.' After all, he was dying of cancer, but he Refused to go to any hospital! He remained at home and it was very different to know about Raj Kumar that, he used to spend most of his time reciting Hanuman Chalisa!

On the last night of his life he was alone in his room and died while reciting Hanuman Chalisa! He had asked his family not to inform anyone in the film industry about his death and had only asked them to wrap his body in a white sheet and take his body to the Shivaji Park Electric Crematorium and Before the film industry could know the bitter truth and come to see him for the last time, he was already reduced to a heap of ashes.

Honey, we always rule the hearts of our people and till date no one has been born who can capture our kingdom, please understand, if you don't understand then understand, otherwise it will be too late. We just come and never go again.

Song: Chalate chalate, yoonhee koee mil gaya tha

Movie:-Pakizaa
Artist:- Meena Kumar
Musician:- Ghulam Mohammad Shaikh
Lyricist:- Kaifi Azmi
Singer:-Lata Mangeshkar

Song: geetah aage bhee jaane na too,

peechhe bhee jaane na too aage bhee jaane na too,

peechhe bhee jaane na too jo bhee hai, bas yahee ek pal hai

Film:-Wakt
Cast:-Raj Kumar, Shashikala,
Sunil Dutt and Sadhana
Music:-Ravi
Lyricist:-Sahir Ludhianvi
Singer:-Asha Bhosle