Rajesh Khanna ( pronunciation born: Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was a Bollywood actor, film producer and politician. He was referred to as the "first superstar" and the "original superstar" of Indian cinema. He earned these titles following 15 consecutive solo hit films in the 1970s, a record that remains unbroken. Khanna married Dimple Kapadia in March 1973, 8 months before Dimple's 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.
He appeared in a total of 180 films - 163 feature films and 17 short films. He won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards and was nominated for the same fourteen times. He received the most BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) – four times and nominated 25 times. In 1991, he was awarded the Filmfare Special Award for completing 25 years in the industry, appearing in a record 101 films as the single lead hero in a span of 25 years. In 2005, he was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. He made his debut in 1966 with Aakhri Khat and rose to prominence with his performances in films like Raaz, Baharon Ke Sapne, Ittefaq and Aradhana. He had 35 Golden Jubilee Hits (which means the films ran for more than 50 weeks in theatres across India) in the period 1967–1975, three more in 76–78 and 35 more in the period 1979–1991. He also had 22 silver jubilee hits (that is films ran in theatres for more than 25 weeks) in the period 1966–1991. He was the highest paid Indian actor from 1970–79 and shared the same honour with Amitabh Bachchan from 1980–87. He was also a Lok Sabha member of the Indian National Congress from New Delhi constituency from 1992 to 1996.
After being critically ill, Khanna died on 18 July 2012. Khanna likely to be awarded posthumously India's second highest civilan honour Padma Vibhushan. The information and broadcasting ministry has recommended his name to the home ministry for conferring the award under the arts category.
Read more about Rajesh Khanna: Early Life, Early Career (1966–1975), Later Career (1991–2012), Political and Business Career, Personal Life, Illness and Death