RajeshTamil Actor – Movies List & Song Lyrics

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

Khanna saw his rise to superstardom in 1969 with romantic musical Aradhana starring Sharmila Tagore. The film went to become a massive blockbuster at the box office and made him an overnight sensation. The same year, romantic family drama Do Raaste opposite Mumtaz also released. These films turned Khanna into a Superstar and marked the beginning of Rajesh Khanna Mania of the early-1970s. He continued his domination at the box office in 1970 and 1971 with films, such as – The Train, Sachaa Jhutha, Safar, Aan Milo Sajna, Kati Patang, Mehboob Ki Mehndi, Anand, Andaz, Maryada, Haathi Mere Saathi, Chhoti Bahu and Khamoshi, eventually giving 17 consecutive successes in a span of three years, a record which remains unbroken to date.

In 2005, he was honoured with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award on the 50th anniversary of the Filmfare Awards. He 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. He married Dimple Kapadia in March 1973, eight months before her debut film Bobby was released and had two daughters from the marriage. Their older daughter Twinkle Khanna is a former actress, who is married to actor Akshay Kumar, while their younger daughter Rinke Khanna is also a former actress. Khanna died on 18 July 2012, after a period of illness.

Rajesh Khanna was born on 29 December 1942, in Amritsar, in the Punjab Province of British India (now in Punjab, India), as 'Jatin Khanna' into a Punjabi Hindu Khatri family. He was adopted and raised by Chunnilal Khanna and Leelawati Khanna, who were relatives of his biological parents.

Khanna's biological parents were Lala Hiranand Khanna and Chandrani Khanna. His father had migrated from the Vehari District in West Punjab (now in Pakistan) to Gali Tiwarian in Amritsar. Lala worked as headmaster of the MC High School in Burewala. His adoptive parents belonged to a family of railway contractors who had moved from Lahore to Bombay in 1935. Khanna lived in Saraswati Niwas in Thakur-dwar, near Girgaon, Mumbai.

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

Khanna did his first two years of Bachelor of Arts at Nowrosjee Wadia College in Pune from 1959 to 1961. He later studied at Kishinchand Chellaram College, Mumbai and Jeetendra studied at Siddharth Jain College. Khanna tutored Jeetendra for his first film audition. Khanna's uncle KK Talwar changed Khanna's first name to Rajesh when he decided to enter films. His friends and his wife called him Kaka (meaning a baby faced boy in Punjabi).

The year 1969 proved to be a game changer for Khanna and saw his rise to superstardom. It began with Shakti Samanta's romantic musical Aradhana starring Sharmila Tagore. The film went to become a massive blockbuster at the box office and made him an overnight sensation. Its soundtrack composed by S. D. Burman and lyrics written by Anand Bakshi was the third best-selling Hindi film album of the 1960s and made Kishore Kumar the leading playback singer of Hindi cinema. That same year, he starred in Raj Khosla's romantic family drama Do Raaste opposite Mumtaz. Backed up with chartbuster songs, including "Yeh Reshmi Zulfen", "Bindiya Chamkegi", "Chup Gaye Saare Nazaare", it went on to become a Blockbuster, in turn making Khanna and Mumtaz a hit pair. In the United Kingdom, the film was released in 1970. It became the first Indian film to gross £100,000 in the UK, equivalent to ₹900,000 (US$118,940.64). Its UK box office record was broken a year later by Purab Aur Paschim, which released in the UK in 1971. The huge box office success of Aradhana and Do Raaste was followed by a superhit in Narendra Bedi's romantic drama Bandhan again with Mumtaz, a hit in Yash Chopra's songless mystery thriller Ittefaq co-starring Nanda, followed by another successful film, Doli alongside Babita to go with the major grossers. These films turned Khanna into a Superstar and marked the beginning of Rajesh Khanna Mania of the early-1970s. He continued his domination at the box office in 1970 and 1971 with films, such as – The Train, Sachaa Jhutha, Safar, Aan Milo Sajna, Kati Patang, Mehboob Ki Mehndi, Anand, Andaz, Maryada, Haathi Mere Saathi, Chhoti Bahu and Khamoshi, eventually giving 17 consecutive successes in a span of three years, a record which remains unbroken to date. Khanna won his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing a double role in Sachaa Jhutha. He won his second Filmfare Award for Best Actor and first BFJA Award for Best Actor (Hindi) for portraying a cancer-patient in Anand which is also considered his career-best performance by many of his fans as well as critics.