Rajesh Khanna was an Indian actor, also referred to as the "first superstar"and the "original superstar" of Indian cinema, was also a film producer and politician. He starred in 15 consecutive solos hit films in the period 1969 to 1971, still an unbreakable record. He made his debut in 1966 with Aakhri Khat. Through his career, he appeared in more than 160 feature films and 17 short films. He received the Filmfare Best Actor Award award three times. He was the highest paid Indian actor from 1970 to 1987 where
Amitabh Bachchan shared the same tag with Khanna from 1980 to 1987. He married Dimple Kapadia in March 1973, eight months before her debut film Bobby was released and had two daughters from the marriage. Their elder daughter Twinkle Khanna is married to actor
Akshay Kumar, while they also have a younger daughter Rinke Khanna. He was also a Lok Sabha member of the
Indian National Congress from New
Delhi constituency from 1992 to 1996. After being critically ill, Khanna died on July 18, 2012. Khanna has been posthumously awarded India's third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan. On April 30, 2013, he was officially bestowed with the title The First Superstar of Indian cinema at Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Awards.
