USS RAAT RAJESH KHANNA APNE CHHAT PAR RO KAR CHILLAYA. "YE ISHWAR MERE SAAT, MERE SAAT HI AISA KYON ?.. BY ALI PETER JOHN

I have said it once, I have said it on several occasions and I will continue to say that if there was an award for the most humiliated actor, it would be the man who is now known as the star of the millennium, Amitabh Bachchan - Ali Peter John

He was not only humiliated in the industry even after he got his first break in“Saat Hindustani"and then followed it with“Anand"and“Bombay To Goa". Stars, both male and female refused to work with him.

Actors like Navin Nischol and Anil Dhawan refused to work with him and even when they finally agreed, they demanded top ranking and doubled their prices of they had to work with a“weird"and a“manhoos"actor who they did not even have the courtesy to accept as an actor.

What happened to the two above actors with time and what happened to the“manhoos"actor within a matter of years is a different story by itself....

But if there was one actor who humiliated Amitabh the most, it was the then ruling superstar, Rajesh Khanna....

Rajesh asked Hrishikesh Mukherjee many questions before the shooting of“Anand"began, but the maximum questions he asked were about the new actor, Amitabh who he had signed after seeing him in his close friend,K.A Abbas's“Saat Hindustani".

He kept pressurising Hrishida to change the“lambu"actor because he said he could not imagine Amitabh to be an actor and would certainly but be able to compete with him in any way.

But Hrishida who had worked with every big male and female star did big bend before the superstar and it was Amitabh as the doctor who is a close friend of Anand (Rajesh) who is slowly but surely dying of lymphocircoma of the intestine and wants to live the last days of his life in an atmosphere we there was life, love and laughter, feels to which Amitabh playing Babu Moshai is alien.

He is only interested in seeing that he can cure his friend, an attempt in which he fails miserably, because the cancer Anand is suffering from is a terminal cancer which has only one cure and that is death...

The shooting of Anand was done within a month of shooting at the Mohan Studios where Bimal Roy, hrishida and all there assistants who turned directors made there film and on a very few locations in Mumbai.

But Hrishida had to face a great deal of emotional problems during the shooting because of the ego clashes between the superstar and the yet to rise star.

Rajesh wanted all the attention focused on the character he was playing (Incidentally, the role of Anand was created by Hrishida for his friend Raj Kapoor, who however did not have the time as he was shooting one big film after another), but Hrishida being a very strict director gave him his due, but also so that Amitabh was not neglected.

There were no songs for Amitabh and very few silent romantic scenes, but he still left a mark and made Hrishida take two decision, one was not to make many films with Rajesh Khanna who he felt had let success go straight to his head and the other decision was to try and make more and better films with Amitabh who had at a later stage married his discovery, Jaya Bhaduri.

Hrishida however had to more films to complete with the superstar. And in one of them,“Namak Haram", he again had to deal with Rajesh and Amitabh.

It was another flash of egos both in reel life and in real life. Rajesh again wanted all the guests scenes and songs for him and he was so obsessed with himself that he took over even a song like“mai shaayaar badnam"from Raza Murad who had the role of a poor poets dying.

The entire film like“Anand"was shot without the two actors making any conversation with each other and spoke only the lines that were written for them. They did not even sit together when the unit was having lunch or dinner.

They still came up with laudable performances for which it is difficult to say who deserved the credit, the two actors or the brilliant direction of Hrishida.

The film also had Rekha who hardly had any role and did not know Amitabh as a friend or even as a person.....

Time, like always and very cruelly passed and Amitabh kept becoming an object of ridicule as he kept giving one big flop after another and Rajesh continued to be the superstar, but there were times when the signs of his slipping down from his throne kept showing with his selection of films showing that they were bad films in who he had equally bad roles and the superstar who used to only have silver jublees and golden jublees was himself shaken up when his films failed to show the same magic....

In the meanwhile, the much humiliated and harassed Amitabh was to soon be adopted as a favourite by destiny. He played the role of an inspector in Prakash Mehra's“Zanjeer",a role he got only after actors and spars like Raaj Kumar, Dev Anand and Dharmendra had rejected, mainly because there were no songs for a hero.

Amitabh knew it was his make or break opportunity and made the best of it even though he had a formidable challenge to face an actor of the calibre of Pran and another veteran, Ajit.

The film turned out to be one of the biggest surprises and also one of the blockbusters of the decade which would be remembered for a long time. The masses showed how fickle they could be when it came to star-worship.

At twelve am on a Friday when“Zanjeer"was released, Amitabh was still known as a flop actor and Rajesh Khanna was sleeping in comfort at“Aashirwaad"at three pm, there was some kind of an earthquake which shook up the world of Hindi films.

Amitabh, the flop actor was coronated as the new King and Rajesh Khanna superstardom was in serious trouble and the troubles only mounted for him as almost all his favourite producers and even other leading producers were lining up to welcome the new superstar and also signing him for the big films they were planning to make with him.

Rajesh Khanna could only“act"as if nothing had changed in his world and continued to call Amitabh all kinds of names at his drinking parties at“Aashirwaad"with his few cronies who were still faithful to him namely because they got their best Scotch, the best food and their monthly stipend for being his cronies.

His favourite line used to be“Kaka Ko maarne wala aajtak paidaa nahi hua aur na hoga"and he kept repeating the lines as if to convince himself that nothing had changed for him.

He was certainly not aware or didn't want to be aware of the great overthrow of his empire that was happening all around him....

It was a grand party (we don't have such parties anymore) hosted by two new producers, Mushir and Riaz who were rich 0 merchants from Kanpur who had come to film only because of their adoration of Dilip Kumar.

They were launching a big film with Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee, Smita Patil and Anil Kapoor in a bit role. The mahurat shot was to be taken on Dilip Kumar and Amitabh.

The shot was taking time because Dilip Kumar had to land on the sand outside the Sun n Sand hotel in an helicopter to meet Amitabh who is waiting for him.

The shot was over and Dilip Kumar, Amitabh and the director of the film Ramesh Sippy were walking towards the hotel and soon entered the lawns where there was to be a luncheon party with whisky and other drinks flowing.

Hardly had Amitabh entered when Rajesh Khanna as usual arrived late. He was a special invitee of the producers who had made“Mehbooba"with him and Hema Malini.

Rajesh was soon surrounded by hundreds of girls and young women and the smile came back to his face but suddenly from another side Amitabh entered and Rajesh Khanna stood like a man going through a strong electric shock as all the girls and women grabbed their autograph books from him and rushed to Amitabh.

Rajesh had recieved living proof that his days as the superstar had ended and the other superstar had taken over....

He did not wait for even two minutes, he just shook hands with the producers and literally ran towards his car and left.

He kept drinking the rest of the days and when he reached home from his office on Linking Road and when he was all alone (Dimple and the children had left the house after the husband and wife had several differences, quarrels and even physical assaults).

He went up to the terrace of“Aashirwaad", looked up at the sky and cried out,“Oh, God why "? A he kept crying and drinking (this is a description he had given me himself).

He had tried every way of saving himself from disaster, but everything was only getting worse on all fronts. Towards the end, he had only one room to himself as the other parts of the bungalow were under litigation.

And the man who once had a fleet of some of the most expensive cars was only left with an old Maruti eight hundred which he drove himself when he had to go to his office. The man who had a retinue of servants were now only left with Bala his Man Friday ever since he had become a star.

Worse things were to come. He was diagnosed for cirrhosis of the liver and there was no hope of his surviving. His family came back to help him out under the supervision of his star son-in-law, Akshay Kumar. They took him on holidays and weekend vacations and he felt good....

The industry also was in a forgiving mood and showed him how much it cared for him. The best thing to happen to him was the conferment of the lifetime achievement award by the IIFA.

He made the same speech that was written for him once by the late lyricist and one of his best friends, Anand Bakshi.

The irony of the award was that it was presented to him by Amitabh Bachchan who made a speech befitting a superstar and said,“there can and will always be one superstar in this country and that is Mr Rajesh Khanna". It was a very moving evening.....

He came back to“Aashirwaad"and called me and said he had something very important to discuss with me. On the way, I wondered what it could be at eleven am which was a time he had never experienced.

Even before he could talk buisness, he kept looking at the only trophy he had in his office. It was the IIFA award and he looked at me and with famous Twinkle in his eyes said“maaloom hai, Ali, yeh award mujhe kisne diya hai, mere Babu Moshai ne,aaj ka sabse bada superstar, desh ka hi nahi,saare duniya ka".

I was listening to him, but my thoughts went back to the time when he looked down on Amitabh as a“manhoos"actor. He then talked buisness. He was made an offer to participate in the“Big Boss"show and he was not happy with the money he was being offered.

Even before I could say anything and he asked me,“Yeh Amitabh Bachchan KBC ke ek show ka kitna paisa leta hai"? I told him what I had from reliable sources that I had heard from reliable sources, he was charging three and a half crores.

The former superstar's is suddenly changed and he said he would tell the channel that he would charge them one rupee more than what Amitabh was paid, but the people from the channel were not in a mood to take him on the show and never got back to him and he asked me if I could call them back and he could start a new negotiation over the fee.

I was flabbergasted. He knew he was dying. He knew that it was all over for him at sixty-seven, but still those traces of the typical Rajesh Khanna arrogance was still very much a part of him....

A few weeks later, he shocked the world when he suddenly died and his funeral was worthy of a popular emperor.

Some say it was all because of his son-in-law, Akshay, how could anyone take way the credit from the man who had ruled the hearts of people for two generations and will be remembered for generations to come.