Agencies/Mumbai

 

An open-back trailer transporting the body of Rajesh Khanna makes its way to the crematorium in Mumbai yesterday

Thousands of mourners thronged the streets of Mumbai under heavy monsoon rain to bid farewell and catch a final glimpse of Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna, who was cremated yesterday.
His body was driven from his residence on an open-back trailer with his face showing from beneath a blanket of jasmine flowers. Crowds of onlookers, many under umbrellas, threw white petals as the funeral cortege passed.
Khanna, popularly known as the “first superstar” of Bollywood and the Hindi film industry’s biggest heart-throb in his day, died on Wednesday after months of illness. He was 69.
He was cremated according to Hindu tradition in the northern suburb of Juhu during a private ceremony attended by family and friends including his estranged wife Dimple Kapadia, two daughters and film star son-in-law Akshay Kumar.
Newspapers and television channels devoted their front pages and news bulletins to the death, as tributes poured in from fellow actors, leading politicians and sports stars.
“King of Hearts,” said the front page of tabloid Mail Today. The serious-minded broadsheet The Hindu ran the headline: “Superstar who turned romance, and even death, into a high art.”
Khanna, who had been sick since April with an undisclosed illness rumoured to be cancer, passed away at his home in Mumbai after being discharged from hospital on Tuesday.
The last rites were performed by his actor’s nine-year-old grandson Aarav.
His last journey generated the same frenzy that he did when he attained stardom in the 1970s.
The legend’s final journey started around 10am from his residence Aashirwad in Bandra. The procession went through Carter Road, Turner Road and S V Road before reaching the crematorium. The original plan was to have a longer procession, but due to rain it was kept short, but it didn’t deter his fans, who gathered in huge numbers.
The frenzy was perhaps just what the Bollywood’s first superstar had been missing all these years.
It was a farewell that the superstar deserved.
Khanna’s film debut came in Aakhri Khat (The Last Letter) in 1966 but his star rose with runaway hit Aaradhna (Worship) three years later, followed by a string of successes, typically as the romantic lead.
Naresh Jadhav, a 59-year-old employee of a state-run bank, skipped work yesterday to accompany the funeral procession as it made its way through Mumbai causing huge traffic snarls on the city’s famously congested streets.
“He was my hero, we all wished we could win over girls the way he did in his movies. A true icon,” Jadhav said.
His prominent hits of the 1970s included Kati Patang (Broken Kite), Amar Prem (Everlasting Love) and Anand (Happiness), in which he played a man who eventually loses his battle with cancer.
In total, he sang, danced and acted in more than 150 films. His smile, twinkling eyes and soft, romantic demeanour charmed legions of besotted female fans.
Soon after his debut Khanna was getting letters written in blood by admirers and his car was said to be stained with lipstick wherever he went. There were even reports of some followers “marrying” his photographs.
One-time co-star Amitabh Bachchan, now one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, also attended the ceremony yesterday and he paid tribute to Khanna on his widely-read blog.
“The moment that anyone came to know that I was working with THE Rajesh Khanna, my importance grew,” Bachchan wrote.
He said Khanna’s last words, as recounted to him by a family friend, were: “Time is up, pack up.”