Memories of Rajesh Khanna come to mind whenever one passes by Hari Nagar Clock Tower, better known as Ghanta Ghar, built by a Dewan of Jhajjar State, after whose name (Hari Narain) the locality and the adjoining Beriwalla Bagh are known. It was at this place that Kaka addressed a meeting during the 1991 Lok Sabha elections in which he contested against L.K. Advani and lost by just 1,500 votes. But after Advani decided to relinquish the constituency, the superhero won the by-election, beating Shatrughan Sinha by an overwhelming majority. The meeting he addressed in support of the South Delhi Congress candidate was remarkable for the fact that the actor managed to sway the audience not so much by his rhetoric as by his memorable quotes and film dialogues and songs. People were fascinated both by the speaker’s personality and the style of his delivery of purple passages from blockbusters like Anand addressed to his Babumoshai (Amitabh Bachchan).
The women and girls of Delhi had congregated in large numbers and some of the college students threw down their colourful chunaris so that Rajesh would not have to walk on the ground when he stepped down from the dais – a hark back to the medieval days when Sir Walter Raleigh threw down his cloak on a rain-puddled path so that Queen Elizabeth I did not soil her royal shoes. One particularly remembers two pretty girls and a handsome woman who joined hands to bar their idol’s path. At first taken aback, Rajesh Khanna quickly recovered his composure and spoke soothingly to them in his histrionic voice, asking them to make way for Babumoshai’s friend, otherwise he would have no other option left but to climb up the Ghanta Ghar and jump on the other side, without bothering if he would break his legs in the process or his head too. This had a magical effect on his three detractors and they broke the siege while the other assembled females clapped and cheered the hero as he boarded his jeep and drove away to address another meeting. What a contrast to his childhood when (by his own admission) he wet his pants every time his father scolded him.
After that afternoon at Ghanta Ghar, Anand often comes to mind when one watches his films on TV or hears songs on the Masti channel or the nostalgic feature Raina Biti Jaye late in the evening. He synched his songs so well that one thought that it was he and not Kishore Kumar or Mohammad Rafi who were actually singing them.
The scenario is perfect after sundown for hits like “Yeh sham mastani madhosh kiye jaye”, “Door kahin jab din dhal jaye/chand ki dulhan badan churae/chupke se aiye” or “Jab andhera hota hai/adhi raat ke baad or “Yeh zindagi ka safar/hai kaisa safar/koi jana nahin/koi pehchana nahin.” Sometimes it’s a daylight scene like the song in Bawarchi when Rajesh is cleaning dinner-soiled utensils and Jaya Bhaduri and her companion join him in the choral singing that attracts Sarojini Naidu’s brother, the old and feeble poet Hirendernath Chattopadhya who recites the memorable lines, “Suraj poorabh se aata hai” and A.K. Hangal and his screen relative rush down the stairs to hear him.
These and other vignettes will be an evergreen tribute to Rajesh Khanna.
Still one wishes he had not made his last bow when the Queen of the Night was under the shroud of Amavasya.
