“He would’ve enjoyed all of the attention and adulation that he's getting now, ” someone with regards to the departed superstar told a chum after Rajesh Khanna’s death last Wednesday triggered off a frenzy of emotions and eulogization.
According to this close friend of the family Rajesh Khanna’s family members were acutely aware of the upcoming end.
“They all knew Kakajee was going. He was taken out of the hospital for the last time because he wanted his final days to be spent in his home Ashirwad. He insisted on going home. Dimple just did whatever Kakajee wanted. ”
Two weeks earlier when this friend visited Rajesh Khanna in hospital he had gotten up from his bed, tilted his head in that phenomenal trademark gesture and said, “It’s not over. Not yet. ”
Now we believe the late legend’s wife, daughters and son-in-law have become together to comprehend the Khanna’s dying dream: to show the superstar’s bungalow Aashirwad right into a museum of Rajesh Khanna memento and memorabilia.
“Kakajee didn’t want the bungalow to be sold. And the family will respect his wish, ” says the family friend.
Says the emotional friend, “He desired to come back in front of the camera. He had a film offer and he was to do another ad with R Balki. Dimple called Balki over to Ashirwad just four days before Kakajee’s demise to talk to Kakajee in regards to the new ad. ‘It would motivate him into getting better, ’ Dimple confided in Balki. ”
Balki confirms his meeting with Rajesh Khanna. “I should have been probably the most last non-family members to have met him. He was asleep after I went to satisfy him. He opened his eyes long enough to take a look at me and smile that famous smile of his. Then he said, “I’ll be back’. And he went back to sleep. He had a massive will to live. And to come back in front of the camera. ”
Balki is now sitting on a goldmine of memento from the dying Khanna. He has footage of Rajesh Khanna waving doing a jig and saying to his fans and singing, ‘Achcha to hum chalte hain. ’
Balki wonders, “When he did that jig and that popular song of his from the film Aan Milo Sajna we thought he was just playing the role that came so naturally to him, that of an ageless superstar. We didn’t include it within the ad. But now once I look back these days it kind of feels historic. ”
Balki refuses to include that golden moment showing the fading superstar indicating to his fans that the top was near, into the ad, because it appears exploitative. However the footage is momentous and Balki wants it to be seen as a legacy of the exceptional actor’s farewell hurrah for his fans.
Says Balki, “I don’t know what I’ll do with it. At the present time it’s a work of art, a treasure that I NEED to share with Mr Khanna’s close friends and family. ”
