Uncover the hidden struggles of Bollywood icon Rajesh Khanna, exploring his battle with panic attacks and depression. Mental health is a mentally disturbed person who is simply labelled as ‘ Pagal’ or ‘Mad,’ but we know that it all begins with anxiety, depression, or trauma or even bipolar which many would not understand how to deal with. Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand were famous stars in Hindi cinema, but it was Rajesh Khanna who was the first superstar of the film industry.
Rajesh Khanna- The Actor Who Gave Numerous Hits
After the success of his film Aradhana, Rajesh Khanna is the first film actor who gave 17 super-hit films one after another, and he became Bollywood’s first superstar in 1969.
From 1969 to 1973, Rajesh Khanna continued to reign the title as the number one
actor in the film industry. But post 1973, the film Industry had one more new actor Amitabh Bachchan who became very successful actor with his films like Zanjeer, Deewar, Sholay, and the audience loved this tall, handsome action hero while Rajesh Khanna was more of a romantic hero in most of these films, due to which his position as the number one
superstar was shaky and his films started flopping, so much so despite 17 super
hit films to his credit, Rajesh Khanna had 15 flop films thereafter.
Rajesh Khanna’s Three Flops
In the year 1976, his three films were a flop. The films were ‘Maha Chor’, and ‘Bandalbaaz.’
and ‘ Ajanabee.’ With the three promising films that failed miserably, Rajesh Khanna
was totally a broken man, unable to digest his defeat and flop films after being on the top for many years. On the other hand Amitabh Bachchan’s films started doing extremely well, and his films went on to be great hits. Some of the films were Hera Pheri, KhoonPasina, Mukadar Ka Sikhandar, Amar Akbar Anthony, Don. It was considered to be Golden Jubilee
period for Amitabh Bachchan while it is sad to state that Rajesh Khanna’s
downfall as an actor/superstar had already begun.
During this period Rajesh Khanna and producer Shakti Samantha’s film ‘Mehbooba’ was released, which Rajesh Khanna was very hopeful of its success as he had many super hits with Shakti Samantha and he had kept his hopes high on this film and
he had thought that he would once again make a comeback to the Hindi Cinema but
Unfortunately, to his bad luck, the film flopped in the first week itself.
Unable to face this major setback in his life, he took to heavy drinking and drowned himself with drinks. He went into a state of shock and he got his first attack of mental disorder. Dimple Kapadia recounted a terrifying incident; one night, a drunken Rajesh Khanna stood on their terrace edge , shouting at the gods. Dimple, helpers, and servants rushed up, shocked by his state. They tried to console him, but a few days later, his treatment for mental attacks began.
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