Book name- DARK STAR: THE LONELINESS OF BEING RAJESH KHANNA
Author- Gautam Chintamani
Published by- Rupa
Price- Rs395
Few who have grown up on a heavy diet of popular Hindi cinema would be unaware of the phenomenon that was Rajesh Khanna. The reigning star of the celluloid from the late Sixties to the early Seventies, for whom the epithet, “superstar”, was coined, once delivered 15 consecutive hits. At the height of his stardom, Khanna acquired god-like status: he received fan mails written in blood.
But fame is fickle in the entertainment world and Khanna’s bright star began to darken (Carl Jung’s theory of mana personality might be a trope to analyse the dark side of fame). In Dark Star, though, Gautam Chintamani desists from psychoanalysis and focuses primarily on Khanna’s diverse filmography, his hits and especially his misses, and how these affected Khanna, initially named Jatin and remembered as “Kaka” in the Foreword by Sharmila Tagore.
The details of the mass hysteria around Khanna are in the public domain. But Dark Star is hardly another how-fame-got-to-the-star narrative. Chintamani tells a compelling story of Khanna’s meteoric rise, the public adulation, his steep decline, and how his contributions redefined Hindi cinema. The first two chapters delve — albeit briefly — into his privileged upbringing in Mumbai, how he got lured by the charm of theatre to getting his big break by winning the Filmfare-United Producers Combine Talent Hunt, which catapulted him from a nobody to a rank newcomer with 12 films in his kitty with the biggest directors of the time. The 16 chapters, each signifying a milestone in his career, are accompanied by subtitles that echo the songs that Khanna immortalised. “That God Feeling” chronicles the backstory that led him to portray perhaps his most unforgettable character, Anand.
Chintanamani’s narration veers from being anecdotal to objective, humanising Khanna by capturing his moments of strength and vulnerability. He waxes eloquent about Khanna’s acting prowess — the actor gave the same iconic, single teardrop shot in Aap Ki Kasam several times on account of technical glitches; but he also notes how he was “highly insecure” (with Amitabh Bachchan’s rise) and, hence, constantly “sought positive reinforcements” and surrounded himself with “yes men”. Chintamani lauds Khanna for making a mark in films despite them being women-centric (Aurat, Aradhana, Kati Patang, Amar Prem) but does not omit mentioning Khanna’s tardiness, his regal antics, and histrionics that led to the paling of his aura. Shakti Samanta, the director who gave Khanna his first hit, had, in fact, remarked while shooting Mehbooba that “Rajesh Khanna is finished…”
Barring a few errors in the name of songs (“Sochta hoon ke tumhe” has been written as “Sochta hoon ke maine tumhe”), Dark Star is perfectly engaging. Strangely, given the subtitle of the book, Chintamani stops short of plumbing the depths of Khanna’s emotional solitude. The prose, too, can seem melodramatic at times. Dark Star, despite its promise, falters because of its hagiographic tone on a star that fell.