By Yasser Usman

It was the year 1969, a year that could be termed as a watershed year for the Bombay film industry popularly known as Bollywood. Two unconnected events that transpired in 1969 carried within them the road map for the next decade of Hindi cinema. The decade that was to become the decade of Bombay Superstars.

It was in 1969 that the romantic star Rajesh Khanna kicked off his phenomenal stardom with Aradhana and came to be known as the first ‘superstar’ of Hindi cinema. And, it was the year 1969 that an actor known as Amitabh Bachchan made his debut, with the box-office flop Saat Hindustani. 

No one realized that an off-screen story had just begun around legendary Bombay superstars. Their stories would often been told and retold through film glossies and magazines of the era giving rise to a tale more fascinating than the on-screen plot of any successful movie. So, what was really happening in that decade? 

The Bombay of 1969 was struggling with various socio-economic issues. Corruption and unemployment were the twin epidemics bludgeoning the dominant middle class. Cinema remained the popular source of entertainment and an escape from life’s many problems. But there was also a stagnancy of sorts in the dominant reel icons. The trio of ageing stalwarts of Indian cinema Dilip Kumar–Dev Anand–Raj Kapoor were phasing out. The traditional goody-two-shoes image of mega actor Rajendra ‘Jubilee Kumar’ was repetitive, and the heart-throb of youngsters, the rebel actor Shammi Kapoor had put on too much weight and looked aged in comparison to his young heroines. The youth needed a new icon they could relate to. Someone who spoke their language and brought the energy and appeal of youth and yet reflected traditional value systems. An icon who could pave the way for new fashion statements, show the youth a fresh perspective on life and love and cater to their fantasies. By the end of 1969, in Hindi cinema, one such fantasy was about to turn into a reality. The void for a fresh icon was ready to be filled. 

In came flamboyant Rajesh Khanna, on an open jeep serenading his lady love, crooning mere sapnon ki rani kab aayegi tu… (when will the princess of my dreams come) and the whole nation was quickly hypnotized with his infectious charm. Khanna was an actor of average built, middling height and without any characteristic heroism, but perhaps he was the last gasp of innocence when India was getting angry about unemployment and price rise, a hyphen between the simplicity of the years gone by and the uncertainty of the future.

‘A Superstar is Born’- this was the headline of the cover story of a famous Bombay Film trade magazine on 1 January 1970. In the Bombay film industry, the term ‘superstar’ was coined for Rajesh Khanna who was on a roll with consecutive blockbusters like Aradhana, Do Raaste, Kati Patang, Heath Mere Saathi and Aan Milo Sajna. He monopolized almost all theatres throughout 1970 with a succession of hit films. His movies were not only commercial successes but also musical blockbusters.

He was the golden goose. His charm seemed to be affecting more and more people with every passing day. And the queue of producers lining up to sign him on only grew longer. In the storm of Rajesh Khanna’s superstardom, even average films were sure shot super hits.

The vibrant film magazines carried his photos and gossip columns were brimming with Khanna’s eccentricities and of course, his love life. His phenomenal success had altered his relationship with his steady girlfriend, Anju. The fans would never leave Rajesh Khanna. They were everywhere: running behind his car, standing outside the gates, waiting endlessly for days, pouring their hearts into letters written in blood, queuing up to watch his film shoots, and often making it almost impossible for him to go outdoors. The girls were kissing Khanna’s white car and putting the dust from his car on their foreheads as sindoor (vermillion used as a cultural sign of marriage in Indian traditions). 

Any relationship needs time to adapt to such extreme changes. In his date diary there was no time marked for his close friends, his girlfriend…not even for himself. The 15 consecutive solo super-hits between 1969 and 1972 had turned him into a philosopher’s stone. Every film producer wanted him to touch his film and turn it into gold. There was a dominant ‘Rajesh Khanna wave’ in the industry and he was signing films left, right and centre.

Subsequent events were as dramatic as his magical rise. It was as is if destiny had suddenly decided to turn its back on him. The fans who were all queuing up outside theatres all across the country to watch Rajesh Khanna’s films had suddenly decided to reject him. In the middle of 1972 came Khanna’s film Dil Daulat Duniya, which flopped miserably. This was Rajesh’s first major flop after the superstardom that had started with Aradhana almost two years ago. In the same year, one after another, four of his films—Shehzada, Joroo ka Ghulam, Mere Jeevan Saathi and Maalik—bit the dust. Perhaps, fans were asking for something more from his performances, and when barraged with weak films and repetitive performances, their patience finally waned.

By 1973, it appeared that the Rajesh Khanna ‘phenomenon’ was fading Rajesh Khanna suddenly announced his wedding to the 15 year old actress Dimple Kapadia. The news of the superstar’s marriage had shocked the film industry. Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia tied the knot on the evening of 27 March 1973 in Bombay, while a tremendous amount of whispered gossip was brewing all around them.  The film media wrote that as his films began to flop, his hunger to hold on to the hero worship had perhaps deepened. Flop films meant an unravelling of the superstar image. And to protect this image in his own mind, he perhaps married a young star-struck fan, someone who loved and validated his own screen image. This event from Khanna’s personal life was the biggest news in India. But professionally, there were new newsmakers on the horizon. 

About a month and a half after the news-making wedding of Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, an important film hit the Indian theatres. In an era of romantic films, came an action-packed revenge drama. The film was called Zanjeer. Its hero was Amitabh Bachchan. The same Bachchan who had played second fiddle to Rajesh in Anand. The film was written by Salim– Javed, who were Rajesh’s favourite scriptwriter duo. The film was an astounding success, and it gave India a new icon: the Angry Young Man. This character didn’t take the youth on a rosy romantic journey like Rajesh Khanna’s characters, but fought back against the injustices in society. It broke away from convention and finally breathed freshness into the Bollywood movies—something that the country had been calling out for.  

Amitabh Bachchan’s angry young man had captured the imagination, particularly of the country’s youth with films like Zanjeer and Abhimaan.  There was an instant rivalry between the stars that was intensified when they came together for another film in the same year- Namak Haram.

Director Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Namak Haraam came towards the end of 1973. It was an adaptation of the 1964 Hollywood classic Becket. During the planning of Namak Haraam, Amitabh was just a co-actor. But by the time the film released, Amitabh was on almost equal footing riding on the success of Zanjeer.

In Namak Haraam, Rajesh Khanna’s character Somu is killed before the climax of the film. His friend Vicky (Amitabh) goes to his neighborhood and shouts in anger challenging the killers. On this scene, the viewers in Indian theatres echoed with applause. This was strange. The hero of the film was Rajesh Khanna, but people were cheering for Amitabh Bachchan. The times were surely changing in Bollywood. The anger and intensity that he showed in Zanjeer was now impressively taken a few notches higher in Namak Haraam. The film reveals a glimpse of the mega-star that Bachchan was to become in later years. 

For this role Amitabh won the Best Supporting Actor Filmfare Award. Namak Haraam was actually the first film that saw a shift in the balance of power within the film industry in favour of Amitabh Bachchan. Even Rajesh Khanna had predicted the same after watching the trial show of the film. Years later he said in an interview, ‘When I saw Namak Haraam at a trial at Liberty Cinema, I knew my time was up. I told Hrishida, “Here is the superstar of tomorrow.”’

Furthermore, Amitabh’s ‘hairstyle that covered his ears’ became a rage. It was a fashion statement now followed by millions across the country. While a lot has been said and written about this shift in the balance of stardom, the most significant marker of this change came from the establishments of Bombay’s barbers. Across the city, their boards now reflected a new entry that marked the changing winds of time:

 Rajesh Khanna Haircut—-Rs 2/- 

Amitabh Bachchan Haircut—-Rs 3.50/-

The verdict was clear. The crown and the sceptre were slipping away from Rajesh Khanna. Rajesh Khanna was India’s first superstar. But unfortunately, though his star burned bright, his success was short-lived. 

Yash Chopra’s Deewar, released in 1975, changed the landscape of Hindi cinema for ever and consolidated the action-packed persona of Amitabh Bachchan. Chupke Chupke, Mili and Zameer introduced new shades of Amitabh. It is noteworthy to point out that Chupke Chupke and Mili were directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, and Zameer was produced by B.R. Chopra—film-makers who had made successful movies with Rajesh Khanna not long ago. 

In the same year—1975—itself, a huge cracker of a film was released: Sholay. This action-packed dacoit saga went on to become the most successful Hindi film of all time. Sholay effectively was the game-changer, in the way it heralded an era of action films in Hindi cinema. People suddenly moved towards action, leaving romantic films in a lurch. Sholay was directed by Ramesh Sippy— whose directorial debut Andaz had been a huge success a few years ago just because Rajesh Khanna had done a guest appearance in it. But despite that triumph, he never worked with Rajesh again.

Rajesh Khanna didn’t introspect on what went wrong and gave statements in the film magazines saying that people in Bollywood are scheming against him. Such reaction and conspiracy theories made good copy in the gossip magazines, but, logically, the reasons of his downfall were varied. In the eyes of his fans and film journalists, his magical era had already passed. The consensus in the film industry was that the number-one star is Amitabh Bachchan. 

At the end of 1973, the annual issue of famous film magazine Stardust openly declared the downfall of the superstar, “The Phenomenon” is no more. It is unlikely that he would regain his lost power. Nobody does. Not in showbiz. When a giant falls—he falls. It doesn’t matter if he rises again because to the world he has fallen.

While Rajesh Khanna remained a big star for the next one decade but could never repeat his phenomenal superstardom. In 1982, Bachchan suffered the near fatal accident on the sets of film Coolie. The entire nation had held its breath and prayed for him. He survived and came back stronger. However, the rivalry between the  Bombay superstars continued.  

In the 1980s, the cold war that had developed between Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan reached its zenith. Ten years after Namak Haraam, Amitabh hit a lean phase with flop films like Mahaan, Nastik and Pukar, while Rajesh finally managed to make a short-lived comeback with three consecutive hits- Avtaar, Souten and Agar Tum Na Hote.

Amitabh Bachchan, however, played a long inning as a megastar. In the early 1990s, Bachchan again took a sabbatical after Khuda Gawah to review his trajectory and reinvent himself. He introduced the corporatization of cinema in India through his Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited.  He came back to screen as an ‘angry old man’ in Yash Chopra’s Mohabbatein and simultaneously created history on small screen with his TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati which is still going strong to date. 

Rajesh Khanna was a bitter and lonely man with no work during the last decade of his life before passing away in 2012. I attended his funeral procession in Bombay. The procession seemed to be a massive affair, a ceremony befitting a king. His fans came back to say their final goodbye. From the frenzy I personally witnessed that day at the funeral procession, it was clear that Rajesh Khanna was a giant in terms of the sheer magnitude of his fandom. The fans seemed to be lost in the memories of a bygone era—a time when they were young and very much in love; an era when Rajesh Khanna gave words and expression to that love in his own inimitable way. On that day, the final passing of their hero perhaps made them feel more keenly—that, like him, their youth would never return. Amitabh Bachchan also came to pay his last respect and later wrote a blog that was in absolute praise of Rajesh Khanna and his incredible superstardom. 

The rivalry is now a thing of the past. Amitabh Bachchan is still super active in films and television. In a career spanning 50 years and over 200 films, Amitabh Bachchan’s body of work is unmatched today. He remains the biggest Bombay Superstar ever. Times have changed but no one can change the fact that both Khanna and Bachchan were the true blue Bombay superstars. They don’t make them like that anymore. 

At the end of 1973, the annual issue of famous film magazine Stardust openly declared the downfall of the superstar, “The Phenomenon” is no more. It is unlikely that he would regain his lost power. Nobody does. Not in showbiz. When a giant falls—he falls. It doesn’t matter if he rises again because to the world he has fallen.

While Rajesh Khanna remained a big star for the next one decade but could never repeat his phenomenal superstardom. In 1982, Bachchan suffered the near fatal accident on the sets of film Coolie. The entire nation had held its breath and prayed for him. He survived and came back stronger. However, the rivalry between the Bombay superstars continued.