Veteran Bollywood actor Rajesh Khanna passed away of cancer on July 18, 2012.
Read all about him from Wikipedia.
Rajesh Khanna (December 29, 1942 - July 18, 2012) was an Indian actor in Hindi films and film producer.
He appeared in 163 feature films of which 128 films saw him as the protagonist.
He won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards and was nominated for the same 14 times.
He received the maximum BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) – four times and was nominated 25 times.
In 1991, he was awarded the Filmfare Special Award for completing 25 years in the industry, appearing in a record 106 films as the protagonist in a span of 25 years.
In 2005, he was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.
Khanna was referred to as the "First Superstar" of Hindi cinema.
He made his debut in 1966 with Aakhri Khat and rose to prominence in the films Haathi Mere Sathi, Raaz, Baharon Ke Sapne, Ittefaq and Aradhana.
Haathi was his most popular film, the story of a young man and his elephant friends.
Born in Amritsar, Punjab, Khanna lived in Thakurdwar near Girgaon and attended St. Sebastian’s Goan High School in Girgaon with his friend Ravi Kapoor who later took the stage name Jeetendra.
Khanna became interested in theatre and did a lot of plays in his school and college days.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Khanna fell in love with the then fashion designer and actress Anju Mahendru. They were in a relationship for seven years.
Khanna married Dimple Kapadia in 1973, six months before Dimple's debut film Bobby released. They had two daughters. Khanna and Dimple separated in 1984.
Their elder daughter Twinkle, an interior decorator and former actress is married to actor Akshay Kumar while their younger daughter Rinke Khanna, also a former actress is married to London-based investment banker Samir Saran.
Khanna was a life member of the International Film And Television Research Centre, the International Film And Television Club and the Asian Academy Of Film And Television.
He also served as a Member of Parliament in New Delhi.
