In the seventies, one actor stood up to the superstar Amitabh Bachchan. He was Vinod Khanna, a Punjabi to the core, who regaled audiences with his macho looks and roles. Khanna, however, lost interest in acting and drifted away. For some time he was a follower of Acharya Rajneesh, but he soon drifted away from him. He returned to Mumbai (Bombay) and began his second stint as an actor.
Politics interested him and he joined the BJP. He justified the faith of the BJP by winning the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat 4 times in a row. He was also given a minister's post by AB Vajpayee.
Khanna lived his life to the hilt. He was admitted to the Leelawati hospital for dehydration but was diagnosed with bladder cancer. He didn't survive long after that. It was a sad end to a life that promised much
Khanna a versatile man
Khanna will be remembered for his roles in films. He acted against all the Top stars including Amitabh. People loved him for his down to earth and action-packed roles. He was a versatile actor.
Two marriages
Vinod had a roving eye. He married twice with some rumored love affairs. He divorced his wife Geetanjali from who had 2 sons in 1985. Subsequently, he married Kavita Daftary a girl 20 years his junior. He has a son and daughter from her
Successful MP
Khanna was a successful MP.
The fact that he won4 times at the hustings is proof enough. But during the last election when Narendra Modi became PM he seemed to have lost his clout.
Khanna belonged to a business family. They migrated to Mumbai after 1947 from Peshawar, now in Pakistan and settled in Delhi. Khanna, however, loved acting and joined films with the support of his mother.
He got a big break in the film " mere apne". He did not look back after that. But at a time when he was nearing the top rung of the ladder, he lost interest in films and became a follower of Rajneesh.
146 films
Khanna still occasionally acted in films. He gave a wonderful performance along with Salman Khan in" Dabangg." But his heyday in acting was the seventies when he churned out many a hit.
Khanna acted in 146 films from the time of his debut in 1968 in the film " Man ka meet." He shared the screen with Amitabh in many films and was his peer. His last film was "Dilwale" in which he had a role along with veteran actor Kabir Bedi
Last
Khanna's funeral was well attended and Amitabh was one of the pallbearers. Film star Dharmendra was shocked and wept profusely. Khanna lived a full life. He covered the entire gamut of life from acting to a disciple of Osho and finally as a Member Of Parliament and also a minister. The BJP will miss him as well as thousands of his fans from the seventies who swear by him.
