Tuesday, July 07, 2015

Superstardom

I was born in an absolute filmy family where the Father carried Sadhana's (yesteryear actress) photo in his wallet (I think he still does), Brother1 constantly bombarded me with Amitabh Bachchan movies and dialogues while Brother2 covered all the walls and entire furniture of our shared room with Aishwarya Rai's photos.

It crossed all boundaries when the Mother started bribing lord Ganesh with 1/2 kg sweets every year and in return asked to bestow Madhuri Dixit with an award (this went on for years). She also fed me Stardust and Filmfare magazines since I was little. People who haven't seen many Hindi films or do not know about filmy gossip or dialogues will not understand half of the things me and my mother talk about.

There is no denying that I like films but I didn't understand the devotion for a star/actor/actress. I thought they are just freakin entertainers, they are not bringing any social changes, scientific advances or helping us understand the ultimate truth (the origin of universe). Well, definitely not until I saw His films. Today I revere Him, think about Him almost everyday, watch His films over and over again. I want to see Him when I am sad, depressed or happy. When He died I cried for three days and kept calling the Mother... who wasn't of much help as she herself was in complete distress. I am talking about the first (and the last according to me) Superstar - Rajesh Khanna.

The way I feel for RK is beyond my understanding specially considering I have no personal connection with him. (I still don't comprehend the craze for any other actor though... Humans are a society of hypocrites and I am just being human ;-) )

I highly recommend these Rajesh Khanna films if you haven't watched them already - Khamoshi, Safar, Anand, Aaradhana, Ittefaq, Kati Patang, Swarg.





No comments: