Vinod Khanna's Unforgettable Role

The death of a yesteryear superstar often brings back memories lying mothballed in remote corners of one's mind. Few weeks before his death a picture of a sick and ailing Vinod Khanna flanked by two people sent shock waves across the social media. Those on the wrong side of 40 were aghast that their teen idol has become so emaciated. He was reportedly suffering from bladder cancer.

After a couple of rumours about his 'death' the inevitable ultimately happened. And he was 70, not an untimely exit, but still looked a tad early considering that he was an adorable hunk during his prime. At the death of every actor there is a flood of write ups listing among others his most influential films.

Though many had listed movies like Amar Akbar Antony, Lahoo ke do rang, Chandini or Jurm, but to me the movie that remains hauntingly etched in my mind is Mere Apne (1971), a little known film which he did in the early part of his career when he was transitioning from a villain to hero and still many films away from stardom.

Directed by legendary Gulzar, the movie steers clear from the Bollywood binary of good versus evil, with all characters having shades of grey in varying degrees. The only exception is Meena Kumari, who after having lived all her life in a village comes face to face with changing mores of city life in the autumn of her life.

The film was about campus violence, educated unemployed and the ongoing rivalry between two gangs - one led by Vinod Khanna and the other by Shatrughan Sinha. As both Vinod and Shatrughan were newcomers they had a lot to prove, with no starry airs to distract them. Hence one gets to see some great acting on display. As for Gulzar, he showed lots of promise in his debut venture and later went on to make masterpieces like Maachis.

Much later after Vinod Khanna had become a Member of Parliament he had told a journalist that during the shooting of Mere Apne there was a cold war going on at the sets between the FTII trained actors and the rest. Shatrughan, Asrani, Paintal were FTII trained whereas Vinod Khanna wasn't. But he did make up for his lack of formal training with amazing screen presence and carried off his role with aplomb.

Later he went on to become a very bankable star and a formidable rival to Amitabh Bachchan, but suddenly left all that to join Acharya Rajneesh's ashram, leaving many of his producers and fans befuddled or heartbroken. Thankfully, unlike Rajesh Khanna, whose career suffered a sudden shipwreck from which he could never recover, it was not the end of his film career. He returned after few years and proved his could still set the box office on fire.

Be it his acting career, quest for spirituality or taking a plunge into politics Vinod Khanna lived his life in his own terms, without caring much about 'log kya kahenge'.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

Coming from a generation that grew up listening to his extremely hummable songs on AIR's Vividh Bharti and Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, seeing a Google doodle paying tribute to the master of yodel Kishore Kumar, on his 85th birth anniversary, was the ultimate compliment. It only shows that his appeal has transcended many generations - from the era of 35 RPM LP records to 35 GB USB drives, via cassettes and compact discs.

Radio stations and TV channels had built up a hype over his 85th birth anniversary. But for millions of Indians  Kishore Kumar's songs were anyway everyday happenings, they were meant to be hummed while taking baths, shaving or listened to in their I-pods or car stereos. Only their favorites varied - for some it was his racy numbers like Bachna ai haseeno or Om Shanti Om, to others it was a sad numbers like Chingari Koi badke or Koi hamdam na raha,  while for others it was the middling melodious romantic numbers like Pyaar maanga hai tumhi se or Ek ajnabi haseena se. To each his own such was Kishore Da's range.

His rise coincided with the rise of Rajesh Khanna, for whom he lent his voice in many films and later did so for Amitabh Bachchan and many other stars before dying at a relatively young age of 59. Interestingly some of his hit songs figured in movies that did not do well in box office. But thanks to the popularity of the song they are still in great demand in YouTube and other song downloading platforms. While watching those songs one felt the director or producer had let Kishore da down by selecting a poor star cast or a story line leading to poor show at box office.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat