Rajesh Khanna turns 68, Twinkle 36

Bollywood?s first superstar Rajesh Khanna (or, Jatin Khanna) turned 68 on Wednesday, while his eldest daughter Twinkle (Tina) celebrated her 36th birthday the same day.

Here are some trivia about Bollywood?s ?King of Romance?:

Rajesh Khanna was once accused of lewd conduct on the sets of ?Anokha Rishta?. The young lady, who raised a hue and cry, was Sabeeha, daughter of yesteryear superstar Ameeta. Eventually nothing came out of the allegations and all was forgotten.

Rajesh Khanna used to charge half of his fees for Hrishikesh Mukherjee in films like “Anand”, “Namak Haram” and “Naukar” as he always had author-backed roles for him.

Rajesh Khanna had gifted a big bungalow to Anju Mahendru in Mumbai. A lot of Hindi films have been shot in this bungalow.

In the late 1960s, Khanna dated Anju Mahendru. The couple eventually drifted apart, and split in the early-1970s. After the separation, Tina Munim was romantically linked with Khanna, but their relationship was short-lived.

Rajesh Khanna-Mumtaz made an incredibly famous and successful pairing in the late 60s to early 70s, and gossip has it that they were also lovers. For reasons unknown, in 1973 Rajesh Khanna married the up and coming (and only 16 years old) Dimple Kapadia. Supposedly, Mumtaz was devastated and married the African business tycoon Mayur Madhwani, leaving India and Bollywood behind. Of course, neither of them has confirmed this, but Mumtaz has hinted that there was a big fallout between her and the industry before she left.

Kishore Kumar did not charge any fee for Rajesh Khanna’s ?Alag Alag?.

Kishore Kumar was the original choice for Rajesh Khanna’s role in ?Anand?.

Rajesh Khanna reportedly saw Nishipadma [the orignal Bengali movie] 24 times before zeroing on the role of Anand Babu in ?Aradhana?.

Shakti Samanta had initially started ?Palay Khan? with Rajesh Khanna. But five years later, he roped in Jackie Shroff for the title role. Also, son Ashim Samanta directed the film eventually.

Rajesh Khanna started wearing ?Guru Kurtas? in most of his films in the ?80s. The reason said is that he was feeling bad about his weight. So, by wearing these kurtas, he though, he could hid his flab.

Rajesh Khanna started ?Jai Shiv Shankar?, a movie produced and directed by him, and got his ex-wife Dimple Kapadia to play a lead role opposite him. But just as their marriage, the movie also failed to see the daylight.

Rajesh Khanna was a member of Parliament for the Congress Party, from the New Delhi constituency, where he won the 1992 by-election, retaining his seat until the 1996 election.