Wednesday, July 18, 2012

My daadi called him the 'eye master'!

I mean you don't expect a romantic streak in someone you've always known to be old.. but just you mention Rajesh Khanna..and just you see that special smile on daadi's face and that expression.. 'eye master, eye master hai vo', as she always puts itDadaji didn't stand a chance.

 

And that's the first thing that crosses my mind as I sit today in the newsroom amidst colleagues running around, breaking the news that superstar Rajesh Khanna is no more. And as I steal time to blog, somehow, I feel a great loss on the inside…and I feel I have to let it out. Hardly surprising since we, I mean people like me, the 90's generation, literally grew up on this guy.

 

Come to think of it….most Sunday mornings in my life, I've woken up to my chachu singing a Rajesh Khanna song…and that's as far back as I can remember. Or when first whizzing on our bikes, in my case, a kinetic honda... you were alwez doing a 'Zindagi ek safar hai suhaana' in your mind...or still like my chachu keeps crooning 'mere sapno ki raani kab ayegi tu'..  or 'yeh shaam mastani..' or 'maine tere liye hi saat rang ke sapne chune'... 'ye jo mohabbat hai....'

 

…and its just the way my mom would light up over his songs over the evening cup of chai… 'kora kaagaz tha ye man mera...' 'hame tumse pyaar kitna…’, 'vo shaam kuch ajeeb thi...' or even the melancholy 'kahin dur jab din dhal jaaye...’, 'kuch to log kahenge..logon ka kaam hai kehna..’ Dad definitely envied him.

 

As I translate these moments now, I find that he was in a true sense, a star. He cut across generations, as easily and as romantically. It is, but very difficult, to stay out of the magic.

 

My earliest memory of him, or my heart's rather, belongs to Anand. No, the world might debate and pit against the likes of Aradhana and many more, but I... I'm still haunted by the babumoshai's dillema bwn life and death...and his philosophy on living life meanwhile. And my personal favourite remains, as difficult as it gets to choose, 'kahin door jab din dhal jaaye..saanjh ki dulhan badan churaye...chupke se aaye... mere kahayalon ke aangan mein.. koi sapno ke deep jalaye...chupke se aaye... '

 

And cmmon' .. who hasn't reflected on the timeless rendition...'zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hain jo mukaam...vo fir nahin aate... and nodded mentally, as if agreeing with life... or ‘zindagi ka safar…hai ye kaisa sa safar…koi samjha nahi…ki janna nahi…’ or haven't we often thought of 'maut aani hai...ayegi ek din... muskuraate hue din bitaana...yahan kal kya ho kisne jaana...' sigh!

 

If you haven't, I hate to say it, but you have been unlucky.

 

And then there is the perky 'chala jaata hun...kisi bhi dhun mein..' (I'm reminded of Dev Anand here. Another legend.) Or that bhaang obsessed jig  'jai jai shiv shankar...kaanta lege na kankar...' or 'achha to hum chalte hain...' - cmmon' who hasn't gungunao-ed it?... 

 

Philosophy, happy or sad or simple reflective, seemed to be the way of life for Rajesh Khanna.

 

There are more haunting melodies, mainly Kishore Da’s.

Kati Patang...'yeh shaam mastaani..madhosh kiye jaaye...' 

Or 'jaane kyun log mohabbat kiya karte hain'  from Mehboob Ki Mehndi, 

or 'gunguna rahe hain bhawren...khil rahi hai kali kali' from the the much coveted Aradhana,

or the fun Haathi Mere Saathi...

the eternal 'agar tum na hote'...

or 'gore rang pe na intna ghumaar kar...' ... rememeber that one?

'diye jalte hain..phool khilte hain..badi mushkil se magar...duniya main dost milte hain...'

 

...whichever the genre, this man in his typical safari suits, that buff in the hair he maintained for a while.. those matching shoes at times.. or just that movement of the neck and that tilt of his head that you could almost memorize...ever noticed that his best and most exploited angle was from the left? yeh yeh yeh... you've seen it repeated a hundred times in all his movies...and yet you'd watch mesmerized, as he romanced the finest women in Indian cinema, onscreen. Well, some off the screen as well.

 

Like 'jeevan se bhari, teri aankhen, majboor kare jeene ke liye...' the ultimate tribute to the beauty that is Sharmila Tagore…I firmly believe that no other actor in his times could have done more 'onscreen justice' to this rendition...

 

The thing about success in Indian cinema, till date, definitely remains romance. Blame it on the likes of Rajesh Khanna.

And the thing about Rajesh Khanna was that he made movies and music, both special, just by being. No wonder he had generations enchanted. My mum and daadi's included.

And now....still want more proof of how filmi life gets? I just realized while reminiscing about this legend... that the man I got engaged to a few months ago and is now the 'husband'...dedicated ‘O mere...dil ke chain.. chain aaye mere dil ko dua dijiye...' to me at our engagement. An honest confession of love! And so much for Rajesh Khanna in my life...!

I still have some I-cant-describe-them feelings for this legend.. and find it pretty difficult to believe that this man was, after all, another mortal.

 

But I guess above all, his legend was about - life itself. His persona, after all, remains immortal.


Come back soon, Rajesh Khanna! Love and prayers! And just so you know how fondly you're remembered... my blog goes out to you :)