The Prediction Rajesh Khanna Made About Mamata Banerjee  .........

The superstar was facing troubled times .He was facing a crisis on every front of life.His family had  left him .All his so called friends had deserted him and all he was left with were memories of his days when he was" God" .He had no work and spent most of his time drinking and at times , he Invited me to join him over drinks and we finished one bottle of Scotch(for him) and Vodka(for me) till 2.am after which he fed me with his own hands  women used to swoon about and  directors did their best to make use of in songs and emotional scenes.

He then left me home in an old Maruti- 800.This was the same Rajesh Khanna who had made me lose the only girl I had loved(Molly) because I could not get her an autograph of his which is the only autograph she wanted.

He was making his last efforts to get into the good books of Mrs.Sonia Gandhi and kept making trips to 10 , Janpath.

It was during this time that an organisation of women from Kolkata asked me if I could bring Rajesh Khanna to their function in Kolkata .I talked to Rajesh Khanna and was surprised when he agreed within minutes .This was the same Rajesh Khanna who had once made me wait for a month to give me a date for the annual day of my  college and after giving me the date had royally ditched me and the entire college .

We reached Kolkata after I had skipped several heart beats because he was flying from Delhi and I was flying from Mumbai and we were to meet at the Kolkata airport .It was more than shocking for me to see him waiting at the Airport to receive me .The organisers had arranged for a Mercedes  and we were taken to The Park hotel and allotted suites on the same floor.As soon as we got comfortable ,I asked him for a drink but he said "Nahi Ali, function ke baad ".I was both happy and angry .How could Rajesh Khanna say no to an opportunity to have a drink or two?

The organisers took us to the open ground where the function was to be held . Rajesh Khanna who had never been in time at any time had reached a full 30.minutes early and we had to take a few rounds of the ground to reach the venue at 7:30.pm .He had never looked so happy in a very long time .I knew why he was so happy .He had not seen such a huge crowd for him since a long time . The crowd was mostly all women who were still crazy about the superstar and I saw the human side of the one-time superstar,when he whispered in my ear, “Ali,yakin nahi aata ki itni saari aurate ab bhi Kaka pe marti hain".

That evening gave him new hope and we celebrated till midnight because the next morning we had to meet Ms.Mamta Banerjee at 8:30.am sharp.I was suprised when “the Rajesh Khanna" asked me not to drink too much because we had an important appointment to keep in the morning .

The next morning we were outside Ms.Banerjee's house which was like one large hut and surrounded by thousands of people shouting"Mamata didi zindabad"and the falling superstar looked at me and his eyes told me a thousand stories about how lakhs of people shouted and cried out "Rajesh Khanna zindabad"once upon a time not so long ago

He was led into what looked like Ms.Banerjee's office as the crowd grew larger and shouted louder .

The two leaders came out of the office and waved out to the crowd . Rajesh got into the car and once we were out of the house, Rajesh Khanna made what looks like a pridiction today when he said "Dekhna , Ali, aur meri baat yaad rakhkna. ek din ye chotti si aurat na sirf Bangal balki saare desh ki neta banegi ".

Today Rakesh Khanna has become history but Mamata Banerjee is on the verge of becoming the neta of the" Mahagatbandhan"which is in a powerful mood to overthrow the Modi Sarkar in the elections to come and even the most senior political leaders , political journalists and political pundits are seeing in Mamata Banerjee the future Prime Minister of India .and I wish Rajesh Khanna was given a chance to be alive atleast till he saw this prediction of his come so true...

THAT JINXED PHOTO OF DHARMENDRA WITH SHATRU

There was a great deal of excitement at the FTII. Dharmendra who was at the peak of his career and had never gone to any school of acting was to visit the FTII in Pune.

Every aspiring actor wanted to have a photograph (there were no selfies those days) taken with the man the gossip magazines had given the title ‘Garam Dharam'.

But, if there was one student who had spent a sleepless night wondering whether he would get a chance to get his wish fulfilled, it was a young man from Bihar with a name like Shatrughan Sinha.

His wish was fulfilled. He met the ‘Garam Dharam'and even got himself photographed with him by a veteran photographer from ‘Screen', Mr R.M Kumtakar. The young actor asked Kumtakar to send him a copy for which he was willing to pay any price.

The acting course was over and Shatrughan, Subhash Ghai and others reached the city of dreams to fulfill their dreams, but Shatru as he he came to be known was looking for Kumtakar who had not cared to keep his promise about the photograph with Dharmendra.

I met Shatru for the first time and when he came to know that I worked for ‘Screen', he treated with me to ask Kumtakar to give him the photograph which he said was very close to him.

I told Kumtakar about it and he found the negative after two months. He took him in time to develop the negative and finally have it to me saying,“give it to that boy with a scar on his face and make some excuse about my delay in giving him the photograph".

I carried the photograph with me for several weeks and one day when I was sure that I was going to come across Shatru, I found out that I had misplaced or lost that one photograph. It made me feel miserable.

I did not meet Shatrughan Sinha for several months after losing the photograph, but I also knew that I would have to face him some day of I had to be in this industry.

Shatru had become a very big and busy star who was first popular as a villain and then as a hero.

I finally came face to face with him and he felt I was carrying the photograph with me, but I made a sad face and he knew that something had gone wrong and I had lost the photograph. His first reaction was,“from the frying pan to the fire". I knew what he meant. He trusted Kumtakar and knew that he would give him that photograph but he was wrong and now Kumtakar had given the photograph to me and I had lost it and when I looked sadder, he said,“theek hai yaar, ek photograph ke liye mai tumhari dosti nahi chhod sakta. Photo ko toh aur bhi niklenge, lekin uss jaisa photo kabhi nahi nikalega. Main ab kabhi bhi ek struggler nahi Laguna kisi bhi photo mein. Dhanya ho Kumtakar Sahab ka aur tumhare jaise uske chele ka". It is more than forty years now but whenever Shatru and me meet, we always think about that photograph and remember Kumtakar and Shatru laughs like only he can.

Talking about Shatru, I must say that I have grown into a greater admirer of his ever since he had become a rebel (baaghi) in his own party. It takes great courage to do what he has been doing by taking on the power of the mighty Modi and his government.

What Shatru will do in the next few days will be a very controversial chapter in today's politics. If I had any interest in active politics, I would have joined any party that Shatru would have the courage and conviction to start. He is after all, the only Shatru (enemy) who is loved by millions...

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