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In the 1960s, Carter Road in Bandra, Mumbai, wasn’t the hotspot that it is now. It housed mostly Parsis and Anglo-Indians. Among the row of houses at the seafront was a bungalow rumoured to be haunted. According to journalist Ali Peter John, the house was in a dilapidated state, and nobody was willing to buy it, even at dirt cheap prices. The existence of the house was brought to the attention of actor Rajendra Kumar, who was then just starting out in Hindi films. Excited by the opportunity to live in a bungalow with a view of the sea, he was determined to purchase it, even though he didn’t have the money to. The rest, as they say history. The actor not only bought the bungalow but he also flourished while living there, delivering silver, golden and diamond jubilee films and acquiring the moniker of ‘Jubilee Kumar’. He then sold the bungalow to another upcoming actor Rajesh Khanna, who went on to emerge as the first superstar of Indian cinema.
According to Seema Sonik Alimchand’s book Jubilee Kumar: The Life and Times of a Superstar, the house was put on sale for Rs 65,000. But Rajendra Kumar could only spare Rs 10,000. He said, “I immediately signed a cheque for Rs 10,000 and sent it to the broker. Now I had to pay fifty-five thousand more, which I didn’t have in my account. So I went to Mr BR Chopra, who, a few days earlier, had offered me two films — Dhool ka Phool and Kanoon. While I had accepted both, we had yet to come to an agreement over the payment for each film.”
Rajendra Kumar told the kindhearted BR Chopra that he would do both films, but would need to be paid in advance. They reached an agreement. He said, according to the book, “The consolidated fee they were offering for both films was not acceptable to me. So CVK Shastri, the Chopras’s production controller, and I were still wrangling over it when this beautiful bungalow came into the picture. I told Chopra Saab, ‘Shastriji and I have reached an impasse regarding my fee. So could we please finalize the amount?’ Chopra Saab asked, ‘How much has Shastri offered you?’ Rs 1,50,000 for both films,’ I told him. ‘And I hove asked for Rs 2 lakhs, as I am charging other producers more than a lakh per movie.’ He said, ‘All right, I will pay you Rs 1,75,000 for both.’ I agreed immediately, but laid down the condition that he should pay me Rs 50,000 then and there. And the magnanimous B.R. Chopra immediately handed me the money. I paid Rs 55,000 to the owner of the bungalow on Carter Road that I had set my eyes on.”
But the matter of rumours around the bungalow remained. According to Alimchand’s book, the broker Rajendra Kumar met with dismissed the rumours. “Apparently, this gentleman hasn’t paid the rent for months, and now that the landlord has given him an ultimatum he’s probably spreading rumours to drive off prospective buyers and tenants. Otherwise, why would he continue to live in a haunted house?” he told the actor. Rajendra renovated the place and gave it the name Dimple, after his newborn daughter. His career took off, and soon, he earned the moniker ‘Jubilee Kumar’. He was able to buy another bungalow, which he named Dimple as well. It was around this time that another young actor was taking his first steps in the industry; his name was Rajesh Khanna. He heard that Rajendra Kumar was looking to sell his Carter Road bungalow, and decided to purchase it, hoping that some of the star’s good fortune would rub off on him.
According to Peter John, Rajesh bought the bungalow for Rs 3.5 lakh, but because he wasn’t allowed to keep the name ‘Dimple’, he named it ‘Aashirwad’. “You must change the name. Dimple is my daughter’s name. We had named the Carter Road bungalow after her and we have now named our new home ‘Dimple’ too. But you have my blessings for your new home. May it bring you immense luck and prosperity,” Alimchand’s book quoted Rajendra Kumar as saying. Rajesh’s fortunes indeed changed. He became the first ‘superstar’ of Hindi cinema, and hordes of fans would throng the streets outside Aashirwad. According tot he book Dark Star: The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna by Gautam Chintamani, once Rajesh moved into Aashirwad, “the facade of being a king was complete.”
“Khanna made tens of producers wait endlessly outside the fabled durbar, granting audience only once they had done time. He would emerge in his famous silk lungi-kurta and take his position at a chair that was conspicuously placed a little higher than the others to differentiate between the king and his subjects. Only a select had access to the inner sanctum, and many a times, those waiting outside would tell the ones who passed by to put in a good word… Inside, copious amounts of whisky would flow endlessly through the night and those present would sing praises of King Kaka… Those who didn’t agree with him or presented a somewhat contrarian point of view even for the sake of argument, were often shown the door. The manner in which Khanna supposedly banished people from his court was nothing less than high theatrics; he would weigh the words that didn’t meet his approval and proclaim, ‘Aapko humara durbar chhodna padega’.
However, Rajesh’s career famously sank after the arrival of Amitabh Bachchan. Rajesh Khanna died in 2012. Following his death, Aashirwad was sold for Rs 90 crore to a businessman. A highrise stands on the land today.
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