Dark Star (Rajesh Khanna) Book Review: Massive Success, Bloated Ego, and Dramatic Downfall

When I learned that the author Gautam Chintamani has created his first book entitled, Dark Star – The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna a HarperCollins India publication what intrigued me is why not many books had been written before about India’s first superstar, Rajesh Khanna. The reasons can be innumerable, however, I am glad that the author Gautam Chintamani, with his deep research and prolific writing, strove to come up with his first book on Rajesh Khanna. Gautam is a born movie buff and also a popular columnist in many of the major national publications. After reading this book, an impressive read. I take this opportunity to write a short summary review of your book.

Rajesh Khanna (massive success, bloated ego, and dramatic downfall)

The name Rajesh Khanna registers three things in my mind: his massive success, his bloated ego, and the dramatic downfall. Watch out for the success of the sequence, the ego, and then the downfall. Were they all interconnected? I thought so, but not until the author Gautam and his book provided me with deeper insight and a compelling answer..

Early days and massive success

The word “superstar” was coined by the media for actor Rajesh Khanna. With seventeen massive hits to his credits in a short span of just over four years, Khanna felt this phase would last forever. He was originally born as Jatin Khanna to middle-class parents and was later adopted by wealthy relatives who raised him as a prince. His foster mother would not allow anyone near his room in the morning until Kaka woke up alone. Even when it came to going to school, it was Rajesh Khanna himself who more than anyone would decide whether he wanted to attend classes or not. He used to tell his friends that if he asked for five rupees, he would receive ten from his parents. By the time Rajesh Khanna won the Filmfare United Producers Combine Talent Hunt, as a fighter he was already famous as the person driving an imported sports car. The impact of his success was so great that a short anecdote from the book reads: While Khanna was filming for “Prem Kahani” at Mithibai College, a nearby fakir was begging the crowd for alms, not in the name of the Almighty but in the name of the superstar and then Rajesh Khanna. Such was the hysteria generated by the Superstar then among the common masses.

Swollen ego

First was his massive success, then came his bloated ego and how one’s exalted ego can lead an individual from success to mediocrity, a lesson we must learn by looking at the life and times of Rajesh Khanna. Is well said “Where love enters, the ego takes the exit and where the ego enters, love takes the exit.”

However, if one reads this book in conjunction with good research by the author, it can be clearly seen that the man’s ego was not a by-product of his success. On the contrary, the ego was always there and as big as ever.

You can read in the book, Shyam Keswani, the lawyer introduced to Khanna by Shakti Samanta, is sure that even if Rajesh Khanna had ventured into business he had been a railroad contractor or even an employee, his ego would have remained the one. same. . Rajesh Khanna was always impetuous and people took the pulse, especially after the series of hits that his film Aradhana published. “The success changed the attitude towards him and as the successes accumulated no one seemed to care about his impudence.”

Dramatic fall

Not every day in one’s life is similar and so were in the life of superstar Rajesh Khanna. There was a time when everything he touched turned to gold and then there came the phase where everything he touched turned to dust. Their imported cars were traded for Maruti 800s and their 555s were replaced by Gold Flake. He hoped politics would give a new direction to his life, but to no avail, as Sunil Dutt saw a new and more trustworthy individual. Khanna’s role as a father in the 1999 release “Aa Ab Laut Chalen” was not widely applauded at the box office, as Amitabh Bachchan’s 2000 release of Mohabbatein earned Big B his Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. .

Admire the fine writing, patience, and in-depth research that took author Gautam to create his debut book on this superstar Rajesh Khanna. In fact, the book is a wonderful tribute by the author covering Rajesh Khanna’s four-decade odyssey that swept across the nation at one point. Rajesh Khanna reached heights that no one had ever done before him.

Learned lessons

There are many interesting lessons one can learn after reading the book and going through the life and times of Rajesh Khanna. However big or small achievements may be, it would always be ideal to stay grounded. Success and ego never go hand in hand. One can win on your ego, but eventually you are still a loser and lose out on in life’s battles, eventually ending up disturbing one’s happy home. Whether it’s the loneliness of being a superstar or a common mass ego gets you nowhere. Aptly coined by Kabir, “Speak without ego, it will calm you down and comfort others.”