Old memories die hard, especially when they are with Rajesh Khanna aka Kaka !

Writing about Rajesh Khanna is like showing incense to the sun. A superstar of yesteryears, a great human being, a magnanimous personality, a heartthrob of millions world over, particularly of women from the age group of 20 to 80 till date, historic personalities of celluloid world and epitome of a generous actor like Rajesh Khanna never die.

Such icons are immortal and instead become the permanent source of inspiration to their fans, admirers and people of artistic profession universally.

An actor par excellence, unparalleled in the history of Bollywood and incomparable with anybody, including stalwarts like Amitabh Bachchan. Rajesh Khanna has, after his sad demise, ultimately proved amply that personalities like him in the arena of films are born only once in a millenium and are immortal.

I was fortunate enough that being an ordinary human being, I received an opportunity to be in close proximity with a legend like Rajesh Khanna right from the first day on his being chosen as official congress candidate by Rajiv Gandhi from New Delhi parliamentary constituency till the time of his losing the elections at the hands of former Union minister and BJP candidate Mr. Jagmohan n thereafter till he left for an eternal journey sending shock waves all around. Very few people know that a superstar of Bollywood and a creater of mass hysteria amongst his followers and fans from 1969 to 1972, giving 15 superhits in a short span of merely 2-3 years and working in more than 165 hit films – Rajesh Khanna was actually a very down-to-earth human being who always valued the sentiments and aspirations of people hailing from the grassroots levels.

Today, the electronic as well as the print media is appreciating Rajesh Khanna for his exemplary performance as a superstar in Bollywood but nobody has taken the view about Rajesh Khanna’s benevolent attitude towards common masses as a social activist and a parliamentarian from 1991 till 1996 and thereafter too, when he not only made the BJP stalwart Advaniji run away from the New Delhi parliamentary constituency to retain the Gandhinagar seat as MP for the fear of being defeated next time but his capacity to defeat his co-actor Shatrugan Sinha with a heavy margin from the same seat vacated by Mr. L.K. Advani. He was Kaka who had met the then Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and using his clout got the income tax exemption limit raised to 80000 from 50000 annually winning their hearts.

While working as hony media advisor to Rajesh Khanna while he was contesting as a New Delhi candidate and thereafter after winning as Member of Parliament from New Delhi, I was really overwhelmed to notice that despite being a superstar, he performed his duties as an MP of Congress quite dedicatedly, diligently and efficiently.

In this context, I would not hesitate to say that the speed with which the stalwart of Indian cinema Mr.Amitabh Bachchan failed to perform his duties as Member of Parliament from Allahabad not doing justice with his electorates of Allahabad, Mr.Rajesh Khanna on the contrary, despite facing various odds and trivial circumstances, performed his socio-political responsibilities towards the electorates of New Delhi very efficiently and with great amount of ease, making them always satisfied n happy.

In addition despite the very fact that the popularity and craze for Rajesh Khanna was still on the rise even after his being the Member of Parliament from New Delhi, he conveniently not only mixed with the people on daily basis at his residence and in various parts of his constituency but also resolved personal and various developmental issues of New Delhi constituency by listening to each and every electorate of cross-section of the society and holding regular meetings with officials of different departments of the govt. pertaining to constituency problems after assuming the charge as MP, New Delhi and shifting to his official bungalow no.81, Lodhi Estate. Kaka, was very particular about living standards and as such he not only got his entire house renovated from inside on his own personal expenses, but also got a full-fledged office arranged including arranging about 250 chairs fitted on his lawn for the convenience of the common public who used to come to his house on daily basis for resolution of their various problems.

I fondly remember that even being a superstar of yesteryear and his preoccupations, Mr.Rajesh Khanna used to take out time from his busy schedule to meet each and every visitor and confabulate with them ensuring that their woes, if any, are resolved forthwith and his voters also kept in good humour.

He had made special arrangements for his full fledged staff at his official bungalow to deliver letters to each and every electorate coming to him with various problems to be delivered to different authorities of the govt for different works with instructions not to annoy any electorate.

Kaka was very particular about this. I have a number of fondly cherished memories of my fruitful association with Rajesh Khanna. Being his ardent fan since my childhood days, I had never ever thought of meeting him so closely even in the most bizzare of my dreams while working as a correspondent in a vernacular daily of western Uttar Pradesh, having my office in INS Building, Rafi Marg when on one fine evening I came to know that Rajesh Khanna has been asked by Rajiv Gandhi to contest from New Delhi parliamentary constituency as official Congress candidate, I desperately thought to join him to look after his media affairs and as such, after some efforts, I was able to find his suite number in Hotel Ashok where he had been staying for a few days.

A close associate of Rajesh Khanna, namely Steven Fernandes, came on phone when I expressed my keen desire to meet him in person to discuss matters relating to the media coordination during his election. Finally I was sucessful in meeting Rajesh Khanna aka Kaka at Hotel Ashok at 10 PM.

I was really delighted seeing Rajesh Khanna coming out of his suite and meeting me in the outer room along with Rajiv Shukla, a senior journalist and former BCCI office bearer. After deliberating for an hour or so, Mr. Rajesh Khanna while showing immense interest in my capability of media coordination of his election, agreed to give me the responsibility feeling highly satisfied n relieved. He happily asked me to meet next time when he finally comes back from Bombay to contest the election. After few days, I met him again at 15, Canning Lane, his first election office where he was sitting with his one time close astrological friend Bharat Upmanyu and the senior journalist Rajiv Shukla. Seeing me, Rajesh Khanna was highly delighted and request fully entrusted me the job of media coordination during his New Delhi parliamentary election. This is the talk of 1991. since then, I continuously accompanied him in all his election campaigns and media interactions etc. . Rajesh Khanna was such a good human human being and a humble personality that there was not a single instance of his being proud, arrogant or superstardom dominating him while mixing with electorates of his constituency, whether they were from jhuggi-jhopri clusters or people of the lowest echelons of the society including the affluents. He campaigned extensively in various nooks and corners of the constituency in the peak summers under the scorching heat, sometimes barefooted in padayatras measuring 10-20 kilometres a day.

His special soft corner for the media persons in particular was also well-known. He used to meet media persons on one-to-one basis regularly and enjoyed interacting with them for hours together. He was very conscious for media publicity and had special soft corner for English press. I still remember his close proximity with Mr.Pankaj Vohra, then City Editor of HT and Times of India and Mr.Sumit Mishra of Jansatta, Ms Parsai of Hindu, Arti Bhagava of HT etc. It is a strange secret that when Shatrughan Sinha, the BJP candidate, was extensively campaigning against Rajesh Khanna and his wife Poonam Sinha was immensely instrumental in her husband’s campaign, Mr.Rajesh Khanna also felt the need to call his estranged wife Dimple n family for the campaigning in New Delhi to counter Poonam Sinha’s efforts. Mr.R.K. Dhawan, who was the main force behind Rajesh Khanna’s campaign anyhow arranged Dimple Kapadia’s entry in New Delhi scenario despite the fact that she was not in good terms with her husband at that point of time and was staying separately.

However, she came to Delhi with Twinkle Khanna and campaigned for Kakaji till the end, ultimately n Rinki ( both daughters) contributing immensely in Kaka’s victory. Rajesh Khanna’s commitment of support for his subordinates, especially those working for him, can be gauged from the fact that he not only arranged a personal telephone connection, a two-wheeler and a govt. accommodation for me in 1992-93 by personally approaching the minister concerned but also helped his staff financially from time to time. He was also instrumental in helping the poor and the downtrodden by way of arranging for their treatment expenses and also contributing socially. He never discouraged his subordinates or the staff ever and always stood by them during the thick and thin. Rajesh Khanna never opted for monetary or physical gains but always maintained his healthy ego. He always maintained his personal principles and never drifted from his personal likings and choices, come what may. He never liked psycophancy and always believed in friends.

Though he was a man always believing in leading a highly comfortable and stylish lifestyle, going with drinking sessions daily, he was equally concerned about the poor and the have-nots. To substantiate this contention, I would like to mention about an incident of 1992 when Rajesh Khanna hosted a party for the media persons in Hotel Meridian attended by a good number of journalists from the print and electronic media. While the party was under progress, Mr.Rajesh Khanna got a call from the residents of Princess Park near India Gate that their houses were being demolished by the authorities.

Khanna, not only left the party in between immediately but straightaway went to the spot and sat on hunger strike in front of Tilak Marg Police Station till late evening and only got up after the issue was finally resolved in the favour of the affected poor residents, calling the police commissioner on the spot including army officers. There are number of other examples which prove the greatness and pro-people attitude of this phenomenal personality who is unfortunately not with us today, but space is the constraint.

Though Rajesh Khanna’s absence is being felt by his innumerable fans worldwide, the electorates of New Delhi parliamentary constituency will always adore him for being so heartily close to them during his tenure as their most beloved and affectionate public representative.