Vinod Khanna: The actor who preferred Osho over stardom

Vinod Khanna was a natural before the camera. Unlike some of his stylized contemporaries who spoke their dialogues with all the gauche intensity of aspiring Shakespearean actors at elocution classes, Vinod never minced words. So natural and unselfconscious was his charisma that he didn’t think twice before doing two-hero films with Amitabh Bachchan. A move that proved damaging to Vinod’s stardom.

Vinod Khanna ’s talented son Akshaye Khanna who worked with his father in his first film Himalaya Putra says it was a terrifying experience. “There’re certain people whom you shouldn’t work with. My dad is one of them. Mr Amitabh Bachchan is another. To stand in the same frame as them confidently is impossible. They’ve such an overpowering screen presence. It’s very difficult to match my father on screen. It’s that quality; either you have it or you don’t have it. Very frankly I don’t have it. I just don’t have that kind of presence. There’re some actors who just wash you away on screen. My dad is one of them."

Shabana Azmi , who did several films with Vinod Khanna agrees, with his son. “He was an incredibly handsome man. To see him fall ill wither away in his last days was painful.”

Shabana first worked with Vinod in Aruna Vikas’s Shaque. She remembers being terrified because Aruna and Vikas who were married then and co-directing the film, demonstrated how they wanted a particularly intimate scene to be done. Shabana, believe it or not, was awkward and very embarrassed. Vinod, who sensed this came to her rescue.

Vinod never allowed his co-stars to feel he was a big star, probably because he didn’t feel like a big star. This is why suddenly the Rajneesh phase came in the prime of his stardom. He had lost his mother and a close cousin almost simultaneously and was battling metaphysical questions about life and death. He felt cut off and disconnected with everything and everybody. He suddenly quit Bollywood in 1982 and left for Oregon. Rajneesh gave him the solace he was seeking. He became the butt of ridicule in whispers around the film industry.

He came back some five years or so later and the film industry opened its arms to him once again. He did some substantial work but he needed to do more than just be a Hindi film actor. Inevitably he joined politics and was overwhelmed by the huge mandate he got. He gave himself wholeheartedly to politics, even became a Minister of State for External Affairs.

Political ally Shatrughan remembers Vinod as a very handsome, very chilled-out costar. Vinod and Shatru go back a long way. They did Gulzar’s Mere Apne together. “Though Vinod was senior to me, our careers were uncannily similar and on a similar track: villain, then hero, then politician for the BJP… We made all the transitions together. We did one of our earliest and most important films together Gulzar’s Mere Apne, where we were pitched as friends and enemies. I was reunited with Vinod for a buddy film called Do Yaar and then we did Bombay 405 Miles and many other films together. I can’t remember the names of all of them. There was never a sense of competitiveness, rivalry or one-upmanship between us.

Vinod did his best work in Gulzar’s cinema. Achanak remains unique, and not only because it had no songs. It was a flab-free plot about an army man who kills his unfaithful wife and best friend, then flees captivity to immerse her mangalsutra in the Ganga. The story moved at breakneck speed and VK was relentlessly brilliant, propelling his character far away from overt sentimentality, rooting Major Ranjeet Khanna’s betrayal in deep hurt than in wounded pride.

Vinod Khanna considered Achanak to be his best performance. Not many know this, but Gulzar and Vinod Khanna also had the opportunity to work together as actors. It was a historical film called Jallian Wala Bagh, directed by one Balraj Tah in 1977. It was shot in London, where Gulzar saab got another opportunity to bond with Vinod Khanna.The film’s ensemble cast also featured father-son Balraj and Parikshit Sahni. Gulzar saab faced the camera for the first time and Vinod Khanna was a big help.

In fact, Gulzar and Vinod became so close that Shatrughan Sinha who played the other lead in Mere Apne cribbed goodnaturedly, “Gulzar has adopted Vinod. And disowned me.’

Vinod Khanna’s career’s biggest hit as a solo hero was Imtihan a desi variation on To Sir With Love. Vinod played Sidney Poitier with chutzpah and chashma (spectacles), the latter to give him a serious look. Vinod was fully credible in the role of a college professor who sets out to reform his unruly pupils.The theme song, Ruk jaana nahin tu kahin haar ke, became permanently associated with Vinod Khanna.

Vinod was not only honest on screen he was also a genuinely compassionate human being. On outdoor schedules, it’s common to have fans shower hospitality on stars, bring home-cooked food and generally be at the stars’ beck and call . Stars are happy to partake of their hospitality but avoid their phone calls when they come to Mumbai. Vinod would not only be accessible to fans but would also invite them on the sets and be extremely courteous. It was a rare quality. Vinod was a rare star.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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