82 Facts About Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna's accolades include five Filmfare Awards, and in 2013, he was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour.

Rajesh Khanna made his debut in 1966 Aakhri Khat which was India's first official Academy Awards entry in 1967.

Rajesh Khanna was a Member of Parliament in the 10th Lok Sabha from New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency between 1992 and 1996, elected in the 1992 New Delhi by-election as an Indian National Congress candidate.

Rajesh Khanna married Dimple Kapadia in March 1973, eight months before her debut film Bobby was released and had two daughters from the marriage.

Rajesh Khanna died on 18 July 2012, after a period of illness.

Rajesh Khanna has been honoured with a stamp and statue in his likeness, and a road renamed after him by the Prime Minister of India.

Rajesh Khanna was born on 29 December 1942, in Amritsar in the Punjab Province of British India, as 'Jatin Khanna' into a Punjabi Hindu Khatri family.

Rajesh Khanna was adopted and raised by Chunnilal Khanna and Leelawati Khanna, who were relatives of his biological parents.

Rajesh Khanna's father had migrated from West Punjab to Gali Tiwarian in Amritsar.

Rajesh Khanna lived in Saraswati Niwas, in Thakur-dwar near Girgaon, Mumbai.

Rajesh Khanna attended St Sebastian's Goan High School with his friend Ravi Kapoor, who later took the stage name Jeetendra.

Rajesh Khanna gradually started taking an interest in theatre, did many stage and theatre plays in his school and college days, and won many prizes in inter-college drama competitions.

In 1962 Rajesh Khanna played a wounded mute soldier in the play Andha Yug and impressed with his performance; the chief guest suggested that he get into films soon.

Rajesh Khanna became a rare newcomer who had his own MG sports car, who once struggled to get work in theatre and films in the early 1960s.

Rajesh Khanna did his first two years of Bachelor of Arts at Nowrosjee Wadia College in Pune from 1959 to 1961.

Rajesh Khanna later studied at Kishinchand Chellaram College, Mumbai and Jeetendra studied at Siddharth Jain College.

Rajesh Khanna was one of eight finalists from more than 10,000 contestants in the 1965 All India Talent Contest, organised by United Producers and Filmfare, along with other FTII students Subhash Ghai and Dheeraj Kumar.

Rajesh Khanna made his film debut in the 1966 film, directed by Chetan Anand, followed by Raaz, directed by Ravindra Dave, both of which were a part of his predetermined prize for winning the All-India United Producers' Talent Competition.

The year 1969 proved to be a game changer for Rajesh Khanna and saw his rise to superstardom.

Rajesh Khanna won his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing a double role in Sachaa Jhutha.

Rajesh Khanna won his second Filmfare Award for Best Actor and first BFJA Award for Best Actor for portraying a cancer-patient in Anand which is considered his career-best performance by many of his fans as well as critics.

Rajesh Khanna began the next year with Dulal Guha's drama film Dushmun.

For portraying a rash truck driver in the film, Rajesh Khanna received a nomination in the Filmfare Award for Best Actor category.

Rajesh Khanna then played a brief role in Samanta's Anuraag, which went on to become a blockbuster and won him Filmfare Special Award.

Rajesh Khanna received his fifth nomination in the best actor category at the Filmfare Awards for Daag and won his third BFJA Award for Best Actor for Namak Haraam.

When coincidentally some of his good films facing commercial failures, Rajesh Khanna suffered a major career setback from 1976 to 1978.

In 1975, Rajesh Khanna starred alongside Shashi Kapoor and Mumtaz in Raj Khosla's Prem Kahani and did a guest appearance in the war film Aakraman.

In 1979, Rajesh Khanna appeared alongside Shabana Azmi and Vinod Mehra in the romantic drama Amar Deep.

Rajesh Khanna began the 1980s with Bharathiraja's psychological thriller Red Rose.

In 1982, Rajesh Khanna starred in three big budget multi-starrers, Vijay Anand's Rajput, Umesh Mehra's Ashanti, Sultan Ahmed's Dharam Kanta, all three of which emerged box office successes.

Rajesh Khanna played a brief role in the superhit dance film Disco Dancer.

One of the song from film, "Goron Ki Na Kalon Ki" sung by Suresh Wadkar and filmed on Rajesh Khanna went on to become a chartbuster.

Rajesh Khanna received his 14th and final nomination in the Filmfare Award for Best Actor category for Avtaar.

Rajesh Khanna completed his hat-trick with another hit in Lekh Tandon's Agar Tum Na Hote.

Rajesh Khanna's good run continued in 1984 with a huge hit in K Bapaiah's action comedy film Maqsad, which had Jeetendra, Jaya Prada and Sridevi in the lead, followed by two more successes in Naya Kadam and Dharm Aur Qanoon.

Rajesh Khanna did face failures with Alag Alag, Oonche Log, Awara Baap, Anokha Rishta however bounced back with successful films like Adhikar, Nazrana, Nasihat, Amrit, Shatru, Angaaray, Awam.

Rajesh Khanna quit acting for sometime in 1992, to focus on his political career.

In 1999, Rajesh Khanna appeared in Rishi Kapoor's directional debut Aa Ab Laut Chalen.

Rajesh Khanna acted in TV serial Ittefaq for Zee TV which was popular in the year 2001.

Rajesh Khanna was Faculty Guest of "Specialised Cinema Courses At Asian School Of Media Studies".

On 10 April 1999 Khanna inaugurated the live concert of S P Balasubrahmanyam, held at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad as a tribute to R D Burman.

In 2001 and 2002, Rajesh Khanna played the lead in two television serials: Aapne Parai and Ittefaq.

Rajesh Khanna performed in a video album based on Tagore's songs without payment.

Rajesh Khanna signed on to star in a TV serial with Creative Eye Banner, in 2007, and in 2008 performed in a TV serial, Bhabhima, with Leena Ganguly as his co-star.

Rajesh Khanna cited the lack of good roles for actors like him in films as the reason for him not appearing much in films after 2001.

Rajesh Khanna said in an interview on being queried about his decision to do TV serials: "The reach of TV is much more than cinema today and one episode of my serial is likely to be watched by more people than a super-hit film".

Rajesh Khanna considered Guru Dutt, Meena Kumari and Geeta Bali to be his idols.

At the insistence of Rajiv Gandhi, Rajesh Khanna started campaigning for Indian National Congress after 1984.

Advani by a narrow margin of 1589 votes, after which Rajesh Khanna stood on the grounds at the counting station insisting that he had been cheated of a win.

Rajesh Khanna contested the seat again, won the by-election by defeating Shatrughan Sinha by 25,000 votes.

Rajesh Khanna was a member of Parliament for the Indian National Congress, from the New Delhi constituency, where he won the 1992 by-election, retaining his seat until 1996 after which he was not interested in active politics.

When Rajesh Khanna was MP, he did not accept new acting assignments, but only acted in the film Khudai.

When Rajesh Khanna insisted on marriage, Anju developed cold feet and began relationships with Garfield Sobers and later Imtiaz Khan, and did not show commitment to marriage.

Rajesh Khanna had quit acting when she married Khanna on her own, to be able to take care of her children.

Rajesh Khanna is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema.

Rajesh Khanna is noted for his acting, style, musicals and dance.

One of the most successful and highest-paid actors of 1970s and 1980s, Rajesh Khanna appeared in Box Office Indias "Top Actors" list six times from 1969 to 1974.

Rajesh Khanna was placed ninth among the "Greatest Bollywood Stars" in a UK poll celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema in 2013.

Rajesh Khanna was named as one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema" by CNN-News18.

Whenever Rajesh Khanna entered a hotel in Madras, there was a queue of 600 girls waiting to see him at midnight.

Rajesh Khanna was God, there has never been such hysteria.

Rajesh Khanna needed police protection when he was in public.

Rajesh Khanna used to personally sit in music sessions with music directors and used to be personally present for recording of songs picturised on him.

Rajesh Khanna enjoyed the film and refused to leave until the end titles.

Rajesh Khanna was the biggest and the most real star Bollywood has produced.

In June 2012, it was reported that Rajesh Khanna's health had been deteriorating for some time.

Rajesh Khanna died on 18 July 2012, at his bungalow, Aashirwad, in Mumbai.

Rajesh Khanna died in the presence of his wife Dimple Kapadia, daughters Rinke Khanna and Twinkle Khanna, son-in-law Akshay Kumar, grandchildren, Anju Mahendru and other close relatives.

Rajesh Khanna's pyre was lit by his grandson, Aarav, with the assistance of Akshay Kumar.

Rajesh Khanna's prayer meeting, organised in a grand way at the Taj Land's End hotel in Bandra, Mumbai on 21 July 2012, was attended by many, including Reena Roy, Padmini Kolhapure, Neelam, Jaya Prada, Amar Singh, Bindu, Poonam Dhillon, Neetu Kapoor, Jaya Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Ranbir Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborthy, Shakti Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Suresh Oberoi, Parmeshwar Godrej, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Jackie Shroff.

Rajesh Khanna was a simple boy when he lived here and led a simple life even after achieving so much.

Buddhadeb Dasgupta said Rajesh Khanna's acting would continue to inspire young actors in the future.

Rajesh Khanna was a much bigger star than Amitabh Bachchan.

Rajesh Khanna's acting will continue to inspire young actors of the coming generations.

Rajesh Khanna's smiling face and the ability to connect with people at ease had made him popular.

On his first death anniversary, a bronze statue of Rajesh Khanna was unveiled at Bollywood Walk of Fame at Bandra Bandstand, Mumbai.

In 2018, a one kilometre fitness trail in Lajpat Nagar National Park was named after Rajesh Khanna, which was inaugurated by his wife Dimple Kapadia.

Rajesh Khanna won seven All-India Critics Association Best Actor Awards, and received 10 nominations.

Rajesh Khanna won four Best Actor Awards in the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, and received 25 nominations.

Rajesh Khanna won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards, one Filmfare Special Guest Actor Award in 1973, and received a Filmfare Special Award in 1991, after 25 years in the Hindi film industry.

Rajesh Khanna received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award at the 50th anniversary Filmfare Awards ceremony in 2005.

Rajesh Khanna received the IIFA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.