Rajesh Khanna's 6th Death Anniversary: Revisiting Anand- One Of His Most Iconic Films!
On Rajesh Khanna's 6th death anniversary today, we take a look back at Anand, one of his most iconic films which seemed like a lesson on life, pain and death.
Features
oi-Madhuri
By Madhuri
When
Rajesh
Khanna
passed
away
in
2012,
Bollywood
lost
one
of
its
shining
stars
and
India's
first
superstar.
Long
before
Shahrukh
Khan
opened
his
arms
and
left
everyone
swooning,
you
had
Rajesh
Khanna
embodying
romance.
Such
was
the
craze
that
girls
would
sent
him
blood-written
letters
and
men
would
inundate
hair
salons
to
replicate
the
'Rajesh
Khanna
Hair
Style'.
Such
was
his
charisma
that
Amitabh
Bachchan
once
said,
"
"I
got
famous
purely
because
I
was
working
with
Rajesh
Khanna
in
'Anand'.
People
asked
me
questions
like,
'How
is
he
to
look
at?
What
does
he
do?"
Beneath
this
super-stardom
and
mannerisms
was
a
man
with
a
fine
skills
who
gave
us
iconic
films
like
Aaradhya,
Anand,
Kati
Patang,
Do
Raaste,
Amar
Prem,
Bavarchi,
Chupke
Chupke,
Daag
and
many
more.
On
his
6th
death
anniversary
today,
we
take
a
look
back
at
Anand,
one
of
his
most
iconic
films
which
seemed
like
a
lesson
on
life,
pain
and
death-
Anand
Was
An
Ode
To
Hrishikesh
Mukherji's
Friendship
With
Raj
Kapoor
Hrishikesh
Mukherji
and
Raj
Kapoor
first
met
in
Moscow
and
connected
instantly.
Hrishida
later
went
on
to
direct
him
in
films
like
Anari
and
Aashiq.
Anand
was
an
ode
to
their
friendship.
The
idea
for
making
Anand
germinated
when
Hrishida
once
saw
the
asthmatic
Raj
Kapoor
gasping
for
breath
making
him
think
that
how
empty
life
would
be
without
the
smiling,
always
chatting
RK.
Rajesh
Khanna
Was
Not
The
First
Choice
For
Anand
The
film
was
supposed
to
star
Raj
Kapoor.
But
Hrishida
couldn't
watch
his
friend
die
even
if
it
was
for
reel.
After
Uttam
Kumar,
Kishore
Kumar
and
Shashi
Kapoor
turned
down
the
role,
Rajesh
Khanna
heard
the
narration
and
immediately
came
on
board.
He
Slashed
His
Remuneration
For
The
Movie
It
is
said
that
Rajesh
Khanna
slashed
his
remuneration
from
Rs
8
lakh
to
a
lakh
for
Anand
because
he
wanted
to
work
with
Hrishikesh
Mukherjee.
When
Rajesh
Khanna
Couldn't
Stop
Laughing
While
Shooting
The
Climax
Of
Anand
In
an
interview
with
Mumbai
Mirror,
Big
B
had
shared
that
while
filming
the
death
scene,
he'd
wept
inconsolably,
his
head
buried
in
Anand's
chest
as
the
tape
recorder
played
his
last
words,
"Babumoshai,
zindagi
aur
maut
uparwale
ke
hath
mein
hai..." only
to
realize
that
Khanna
was
shaking
with
laughter.
"My
hair
was
tickling
Rajesh
Khanna
who
was
laughing
silently.
Soon
I
joined
him.
Fortunately,
it
was
a
top
angle
shot
so
nobody
could
see
our
faces,"
Big
B
was
quoted
as
saying.
Did
You
Know
This?
Yasser
Usman
in
his
book,
Rajesh
Khanna-
The
Untold
Story
Of
India's
First
Superstar
reveals,
"Rajesh
Khanna
was
so
busy
shooting
for
so
many
films
that
he
didn't
have
much
of
a
clue
as
to
what
was
happening
on
the
sets
of
Anand.
Actress
Seema
Deo,
who
played
an
important
role
in
the
film,
recalled,
"He
couldn't
remember
the
lyrics
of
any
song,
so
there
was
a
prompter
sitting
on
the
sets
to
tell
him
the
lyrics;
he
would
listen
to
each
line
and
then
lip-sync
it,
but
no
one
realized
it."
While
the
legend
is
not
amongst
us
today,
he
and
his
inspiring
films
continue
to
hold
a
special
place
in
our
hearts.
Because
'Anand
marte
nahin'!