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| Late Rajesh Khanna, Anju Mahendroo |
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| Anju Mahendroo |
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| Late Rajesh Khanna, Dimple Kapadia |
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| Late Rajesh Khanna, Dimple Kapadia |
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| Late Rajesh Khanna, Dimple Kapadia |
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| Akshay Kumar, Dimple Kapadia with late Rajesh Khanna |
It is considered ill-mannered to write in negative tones after any person's demise. Never speak ill of the dead, the saying goes. The media and writers, however, must remain faithful to their calling and document the truth about Rajesh Khanna before it is drowned in a loudening of blandishments from publicity-hungry cronies.
Rajesh Khanna's most horrible enemies were the sycophants in his lifetime. They created the destructive genie which lurks within but is kept in leash by most of us. Not so with 'Kaka', as the actor was commonly known. He allowed his ego full play and, at a later date, even rued his lifestyle; but, by then, it was too late. He had estranged his well-meaning lady friends, his old schoolmates, his aides, servants and relatives.
Kaka had a mean streak. He used his star power to knock down any opposition. The time was when Rajesh Khanna was about to get wedded to Dimple Kapadia after a long-drawn romance with Anju Mahendroo. The latter and her mother had a royal argument with Khanna before Mahendroo walked out of the home in which she had been a regular. The film industry was with her. What made Kaka furious was the reaction from even his well-wishers. He blamed Mahendroo and her friends for all the negative hype.
Basu Bhattacharya had just completed his latest movie "Daku" featuring Kabir Bedi and Anju Mahendroo. One working print was sent to Delhi by the producer for private screenings. The movie came for tax exemption.
"Daku" was based on a novelette written by the famed Punjabi writer Amrita Pritam. The writer did not charge any royalty because she had tremendous regard for Basuda as a film director. The movie was issued a tax exemption for a period of one month after its first week's commercial run in Delhi. The film, however, was never released.
Rajesh Khanna's ferocious battle with Mahendroo led him to order the private confiscation of all movies in the country featuring her. He even went so far as to declare that he would pay double the cost incurred to all filmmakers with rights over their movies in which Anju Mahendroo had a role. He demanded that even lobby prints, posters, trailers and advertisement movies et al featuring Mahendroo be handed to him or his representative. He paid for all the material seized.
The whole record of Mahendroo's film career to date virtually vanished. Films already released, like "Road to Sikkim", were withdrawn. The advertisement for a well-known brand of talcum powder endorsed by Mahendroo also disappeared and, of course, there remained no trace of the movie "Daku".
Basu Bhattacharya was infuriated at the turn of events. "Daku" had already got full tax exemption in Punjab and more credit would be forthcoming. Kaka had other ideas. He probably had all the material destroyed. At one time Bhattacharya even contemplated re-shooting "Daku" with a new star cast, but funds were his undefeatable problem.
Rajesh Khanna came to Delhi for a charity premiere for the film "Shakti" in which he played the role of a policeman. At the press meet, a reporter asked Kaka about the release of the movie "Daku". His reply was that he had not heard of any such movie.
Could Rajesh Khanna have been rescued?
Kaka could have been saved from himself. In 1984, Rajesh Khanna's last big hit movie "Maqsad" became successful and he was in good spirits. At this time, one of his physician friends could have prevailed upon Kaka to move out of Bombay for an extended period of detoxification and recovery from his problems.
Khanna nearly succeeded in 1991. He was asked (by the Congress) to stand in a by-election for the Lok Sabha seat from New Delhi against (the Bharatiya Janata Party's) L.K. Advani . He lost by a whisker. He stood again (because Advani vacated the seat, having also won from Gandhinagar in Gujarat) against Shatrughan Sinha (also of the BJP), and won. But he wasted away his gains due to his wayward behavior.
Rajesh Khanna's worst enemies were his arrogance and self-indulgence. He was a poor listener, always bent upon dominating the lives of his dear and loved ones. He had mood swings and could be very kind to someone at one moment and an utter miser in the next moment. The constant refrain around him touting his superstar image had turned his head and he could no longer lead a proper private life. He became consumed by an overpowering need to be surrounded by fawning flatterers at all times.
The whole machination could well have been filmdom's clever strategy to create a counter point against the camps of Dev Anand, the aging Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor. The phantom created by vested interests for public consumption ultimately consumed him.
Kaka remained a lonely man. He had many affairs with women whom he could not marry. Dimple, foreseeing the ultimate fate of her husband, had left him to himself in his big house Ashirwad, refusing to grant him a divorce. The public never knew much about all this.
Rajesh Khanna's last supposed romance was with Devyani Chaubal, a gossip columnist cast in the mould of Hollywood's Hedda Hopper. The Khanna-Chaubal romance ended with her early death.
In later life Kaka also became a regular visitor at hospitals for his many ailments caused by his erratic lifestyle. Something had to give and, in his case, it was his weak and thinning body.
Aware of Kaka's declining health, Kapadia knew that she would inherit some of his wealth as his surviving widow and share it with her daughters. Her return to Kaka in his last days could be an indication of her prudence. Many feel that she rightfully deserves to inherit Rajesh Khanna's wealth after all the physical abuse she suffered from her superstar egoistic husband during the ten years of their wedded life.
Kaka did not want his illness to be made public. Even on his deathbed, Kaka reigned over his body, come what may. The dark side of his life could eventually come to light.
