"I tried to convince him."
In his heyday, Rajesh Khanna was the undisputed superstar of Bollywood.
He delivered 15 consecutive solo hits from 1969 to 1971 – a record still unbeaten by any other actor.
However, from the mid-70s, Rajesh witnessed a decline in his career.
Later in his life, the superstar received an opportunity from Colors TV to appear in the reality show Bigg Boss.
Despite being promised a hefty sum, Rajesh refused the offer.
The journalist Ali Peter John recalled: “Once, the makers of Bigg Boss called me to fix a meeting with [Rajesh].
“They wanted him in the Bigg Boss house. But he said, ‘Rajesh Khanna will hardly do such shows’.
“I tried to convince him, but he said no.
“The Colors people told me they were willing to pay him Rs. 3.5 crores (£2 million) for every episode he appeared in, but he said no.”
Ali added that Rajesh later changed his mind.
He added: “A few days later, he called me and said he wanted to do the show, but by then Colors had lost interest.”
The professional decline of Rajesh Khanna was attributed to poor decisions and the rise of Amitabh Bachchan.
Amitabh was said to have taken the crown from Rajesh following hits such as Zanjeer (1973), Deewaar (1975) and Sholay (1975).
When Rajesh was still reigning supreme, he did a film called Bawarchi (1972) with Jaya Bachchan.
Jaya was dating Amitabh at the time and the latter often visited the sets to meet Jaya.
Rajesh was allegedly impolite to Amitabh and even bad-mouthed him to Jaya, leaving the actress angry.
Ali also shed light on this incident. He said: “He told Jaya, ‘Why are you going out with this man? He won’t amount to much’.”
After this, Jaya apparently told Amitabh: “One day, you will see where [Rajesh] will be and where you will be.”
Following Bawarchi, Jaya never worked with Rajesh again.
Rajesh and Amitabh starred together in Anand (1971) and Namak Haraam (1973).
In 2012, at the age of 69, Rajesh Khanna passed away due to cancer.
A few months before his death, Rajesh allegedly asked Ali: “If the legendary poet Ghalib could die of excessive drinking, why can’t I?”
Despite their past animosity, Amitabh and Jaya paid their respects to him at his residence.
Rajesh Khanna is the father of the former actress Twinkle Khanna who married Akshay Kumar in 2001.
He also had relationships with actresses including Anju Mahendroo and Tina Munim.
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