DARK STAR: THE LONELINESS OF BEING RAJESH KHANNA BY GAUTAM IN FATEHPUR-UTTAR PRADESH

Dark Star: The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna is the biography of the veteran Indian movie star, compiled by Gautam Chintamani. The book has a foreword written by actress, Sharmila Tagore. Born as Jatin Khanna to middle-class parents, the actor was adopted by rich relatives who brought him up like a prince. By the time he won the All India Talent Contest organized by United Producers and Filmfare, he was already known for being that struggler who drove an imported sports car! With seventeen blockbuster hits in sequence, and mass worship seldom seen ever before or since, the world was at Khanna’s feet. And then in a matter of months, it all changed. Mirroring the meteoric rise, Khanna’s cinema career hit a downward spiral just three years after the movie, Aradhana, and never really recovered. Recounting the films and the times of Rajesh Khanna, Dark Star looks at the phenomenon of an actor who completely redefined the phrase ‘film star’. Even after decades since his last monstrous hit, Khanna continues to be a benchmark by which every aspiring Bollywood star is measured.