REMEMBERING VINOD KHANNA ON HIS BIRTHDAY TODAY

By Jyothi Venkatesh

Had he survived his dreaded disease of cancer, today Vinod Khanna would have been amidst us and celebrated his 74th birthday today on Tuesday October 6th with great fanfare. Today he may not be amidst us, but I remember a few incidents when I had met Vinod Khanna which I am not able to forget at all. I will never be able to forget the actor par excellence who had posed to be a big threat to Amitabh Bachchan till he hastily retreated to Pune to be in the ashram of Osho.

The first time I met Vinod was on the sets of Muqaddar Ka Sikander, where I had no other alternative but to remain glued to Vinod Khanna since in any case, the other actor on the sets- Amitabh Bachchan was not in a mood to talk to the press during those days and had clamped a ban on all of us.

The next time Vinod and I did not meet each other as actor and journalist but as celebrity invitees and In charge of the gate at the New Year Eve at Hotel Oberoi Towers where I was working as the Accounts Supervisor. It was way back in the latter 70’s. My boss had strictly instructed me that no one, including any film star I knew should be allowed to enter the venue if he or she did not have the invite. Since I was working then in the Accounts department, I stopped Vinod Khanna when he tried to enter the gate which was being manned by me.

While my colleagues at the gate welcomed Vinod Khanna and asked him for his autographs in the autograph books they had kept in their pant pockets, I played a spoil sport and asked Vinod if he had brought along his invitation card. When Vinod said he did not because it was the General Manager of the Hotel who had invited me and asked me to let him in, I stood my ground and refused to let him in till the General Manager came to the venue. When the General Manager reprimanded me for daring to prevent a star like Vinod Khanna from entering, I told him that the Accounts Manager had specifically forbidden me to let anyone in without a legitimate ticket.

Like a true gentleman that he was, Vindo immediately came to my rescue and told the General Manager that after all Jyothi is doing his duty and I am not angry with him at all. Can I go now, he asked me with a mischievous laugh.Vinod did not bear any grudge against me. In fact the incident brought me closer to Vinod Khanna and whenever I used to go to any studio for any interview, Vindo used to happily give me time.

I still cannot forget Vinod’s hospitality once at a party thrown by the South Indian producer of the film Garajana starring Vinod with Sridevi for the launch of the film, which unfortunately had to be shelved due to financial reasons. The party was being held at the Taj Hotel. WhenI was talking to Vindo at the party, the waiter came and poured the whisky in our glasses.

We were just having our first sip,., when Vinod looked at me and whispered in my ears not to partake of that and whisked me away to the car parking downstairs and asked his Man Friday to take two glasses and pour Black Label scotch from the dickey of his car. “I make it a point to keep this bottle in my car whenever I feel that the whisky at a party is not good. Please have it and give me company”, Vinod told me.

Of course after our first peg, it was Vinod’s Man Friday who made it a point to refill our glasses by taking them downstairs till the party ended. If you wonder how on earth we were left undisturbed, here’s the answer. In the late 70’s, there were no TV cameras or for that matter the web journalists and most importantly no gate crashers.

I still cannot forget the day when I visited Famous Studios to meet Vinod Khanna and cover the shooting of my friend Aruna Raje’s film Rihaee. Aruna was worried when I went to her sets. She told me to convince Vinod to complete the shooting for the day and only then touch liquor as he had started drinking after shooting for some time after he had sauntered in on the sets around noon.

I went to his makeup room and when Vinod gladly embraced me and wished me, I requested him to leave his glass then and rthere and start shooting for Aruna Raje as she was an offbeat filmmaker and when Vindo asked me to promise him that I would drink with him after the pack up at 8 pm, he agreed to shoot for Aruna and Aruna was on top of the world. Of course after the shoot was over, I had to sit with Vinod in his makeup room and drink till he finished the bottle of Black Label and packed up for home.

Four years back, I had an interesting encounter with Vinod Khanna and his wife after he had become an MP when he was conferred with the Life Time Achievement award for Acting by Dr Jabbar Patel in Pune at his Pune International Film Festival. During the after party after the award function, Vinod was seen sipping wine and when I asked him what happened to his love for Black Label, he told me keeping in mind his age, he had started partaking of wine in place of scotch.