Rajesh Khanna born Jatin Khanna(29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is superstar”and the “original superstar” of Indian cinema.He starred in 15 consecutive solo hit films in the period 1969 to 1971, still an unbreakable record.
He made his debut in 1966 with Aakhri Khat. Through his career he appeared in more than 160 feature films and 17 short films.He received the Filmfare Best Actor Award three times and the BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) four times.In 1991, he was awarded the Filmfare Special Award and in 2005, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.He was the highest paid Indian actor from 1970 to 1987 where Amitabh Bachchan shared the same tag with Khanna from 1980 to 1987.
He was also a Lok Sabha member of the Indian National Congress from New Delhi constituency from 1992 to 1996.
He married Dimple Kapadia in March 1973, eight months before her debut film Bobby was released and had two daughters from the marriage. Their elder daughter Twinkle Khanna is married to actor Akshay Kumar, while they also have a younger daughter Rinke Khanna.
After being critically ill, Khanna died on 18 July 2012. Khanna has been posthumously awarded India’s third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan. On 30 April 2013 he was officially bestowed with the title The First Superstar of Indian cinema at Dadasaheb Phalke Academy AwardsHe has also been honored with a stamp and statue of his likeness, and a road being renamed in his honor.
Born on 29 December 1942, in Amritsar in the state of Punjab,as Jatin Khanna,Khanna was adopted and raised by Chunni Lal Khanna and Leela Wati Khanna,who were relatives of his biological parents. His father had migrated from pre-partitioned Pakistan to ‘Gali Tiwarian’ in Amritsar. His biological parents were Lala Hiranand and Chandrani Khanna. Lala worked as headmaster of the MC High School in Burewala (in present-day Pakistan), Vehari District, Punjab, Pakistan.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 Thakurdwar near Girgaon, Mumbai.
He attended St. Sebastian’s Goan High School with his friend Ravi Kapoor, who later took the stage name Jeetendra.Khanna gradually started taking interest in theatre, did a lot of stage and theatre plays in his school and college day, 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 him to get into films soon.Khanna became a rare newcomer who struggled in his own MG sports car to get work in theatre and films in the early 1960s.
Khanna did his first two years of Bachelor of Arts in Nowrosjee Wadia College in Pune from 1959 to 1961.Khanna later studied in K. C. College, Mumbai and Jeetendra studied from 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 join films. His friends and his wife called him Kaka (meaning baby faced boy in Punjabi).
Rajesh Khanna was one of eight finalists in the 1965 All India Talent Contest organised by United Producers and Filmfare from more than 10,000 contestants.Khanna won the contest.BR Chopra, Bimal Roy, GP Sippy, HS Rawail, Nasir Husain, J. Om Prakash, Mohan Saigal, Shakti Samanta and Subodh Mukherji and others had created the United Producers’ Combine and were the judges of the contest.
He made his film debut in the 1966 film Aakhri Khat directed by Chetan Anand, followed by Raaz directed by Ravindra Dave both of which were a part of his predetermined prize for winning the All-India United Producers’ Talent Competition. G.P. Sippy and Nasir Hussain were the first to sign Rajesh Khanna after he won the contest.Aakhri Khat was India’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 40th Oscar Academy Awards in 1967.
Khanna won four Best Actor Awards in the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards, and received 25 nominations. He won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards, one Filmfare Special Guest Actor Award in 1973, and received a Filmfare Special Award in 1991, after 25 years in the Hindi film industry. He received the Filmfare Life Time Achievement Award at the 50th anniversary Filmfare award ceremony in 2005.
(Ref : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajesh_Khanna & SifetBabo)