Rajesh Khanna was at his peak when I was in school , his songs tops the charts of only countdown show of that era ( audio only) Binaca Geetmala compeered by Amin Sayani in his trade mark style. Kishore /Rajesh /SD/RD lethal combination was the guarantee for the success. It is Amitabh/Vinod Khann/Mehra /Rishi who were my gen’s Heros’s , still I was die hard fan of Dev Anand , In fact I was not so excited for his movies during his peak ,although I have seen all (100%) movies , my friend Veena was great fan of RK , she once told me that he has the style , she wants her would be to be like him only , with white/cream shawl draped the way he used to do . Post 90’s only Somehow I started liking his few classic movies by Bangali directors & Khamoshi’s “ Wo Sham “ became my all time Fav song defeating all Dev songs , was it song or the sadness or reminiscences of the forgiven love , or Kishore or Waheeda or Gulzar magic or intelligent picturisation of Dharmendra glimpses , shadow ( 15 secs max) ,or soft music by Hemant Kumar or B&W majestic Hawrah Bridge in the background , Naav , Naav chalak & flashbacks ……………..all these flavors & soft lover boy act by Rajesh Khanna made this song Immortal , even Lata had sang this song as a Shradahanjali to Legendary Kishore Kumar. For me Khamoshi is in the same league of “ Guide” , my ultimate’s.
Other movie was Safar & the song “ Jeevan Se Bhari” , although I feel sad for Firoz Khan’s role ,which was totally in contrast with his real life image of a lady killer .Then Classic “ Amar Prem “ better known for his famous “ Pushpa ….” Dialogue , my fav scene in the movie used to be , when grown up Doctor Vinod Mehra re visits Sharmila ‘s home & Sparsh flowers of the same tree planted long back ,when he was a child ,he remembers affection rendered by Sharmila during his childhood , so touching , I always ruminate this particular scene, close to my heart .
I observed that all Bangla directors are too good in portraying complexity of Rishtey’s of any kind in any combination ( Humans, Nature, places , animals so on..) , other movies which I liked were Avishkar , Thodi si Befaai , Anand ,Iteefaaq, The Train , Aap Ki Kasam etc.
His bonding with Kishore Kumar was friendly , they share good rapo with each other ,their songs are still popular & he will be always remembered for his Super Stardom , immortal Songs & his contribution to make 70’s as The Golden Era of Hindi cinema.
I do remember the tribute he paid to Dev Anand recently , it was the best , artistic & well versed speech to describe Dev Anand & his control & affection surprised me , Lovely.
I like Shobha De article in Mumbai Mirror , must read , you may check her blog.
My earlier post on “ Wo Sham ..” is re linked below.
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