When Vinod Khanna left films during his prime and became a disciple

In the 70s, three names ruled Bollywood: Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna. Rajesh Khanna suddenly flared up and went out. He later made a comeback, but stardom remained a dream, and the competition remained between Bachchan and Vinod.

We know a lot about Amitabh Bachchan but Vinod Khanna is a forgotten name. Who would have believed that in the 70’s and 80’s, someone was even considered the superstar of Big B’s ticker and that was Vinod Khannaji.

Was Vinod Khanna really ever a threat to Amitabh? We will come to this question later, first let’s mention Vinod Khanna.

There are many instances in the film world when a film was made for one but it clicked for another artist. ‘Anand’ was Rajesh Khanna’s film by all means and he was in the limelight throughout the film, but a scene with Amitabh Bachchan at the end took his career to new heights.

One such film was ‘Man Ka Meet’. Released in 1968, the film was made by Sunil Dutt to launch his brother Som Dutt. The film did not make Som Dutt’s career but a new boy Vinod Khanna got an opportunity and his performance as the villain was appreciated.

Vinod Khanna was equally in love with cricket and Bollywood. After watching ‘Mughal Azam’ and Dev Anand’s ‘Sixteenth Year’, this Punjabi youth decided to go to Bombay.

Apart from Mann Ka Meet, his early films included Purab Aur Pacham, Sacha Joota, On Meet Sajna, and Meera Gaon Meera Desh.

In all these films, his role was that of one of the evil friends of the villain. Such brief roles are only important to a young person as an initial introduction to them.

He meets various people in the industry and starts floating in the minds of people associated with the film as a possible option.

Released in 1971, ‘Hum Tum Aur Wah’ was Vinod Khanna’s first film as the lead actor, followed by Gulzar’s ‘Mere Apni’. Now on one hand they started getting lead roles in films and on the other hand they started being a part of multi-star projects.

Examination, Ankar, Aap Sakthi, Khun Ki Pekar, Aadha Din Aadhi Raat are among his most successful films.

In contrast, Amitabh Bachchan’s career peaked with his stellar performance in ‘Anand’ (1971) opposite Rajesh Khanna. Then came Zanjeer (1973) and ‘Angry Young Man’ took Bollywood by storm.

Both Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna were at their peak in the early 80s. Meanwhile, suddenly Vinod Khanna took a decision and left the industry and went to America.

This was the time when the magic of spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh was speaking loudly. He settled in Bombay Dera in the 70s where many film personalities including Vinod Khanna, Mahesh Bhatt and Parveen Babi started going to him for spiritual solace. Later that Guruji built an ashram in Poona. Vinod Khanna often visited him.

Guru Rajneesh was a staunch critic of all traditional religions including Hinduism and this became a cause of conflict between him and the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was surrounded by tax charges. In 1981, he moved to America and opened his own shop there.

Vinod Khanna completed the films he was working in earlier and took sannyas and sat at the Guru’s feet. Vinod Khanna was known there as Swami Vinod Bharti and worked as a financier, a gardener who was responsible for maintaining the garden, pruning, pruning, and sowing new seeds.

In one of his interviews, he explains that the reason for his closeness to Guru Rajneesh was ‘the mystery of death and its fear’. According to him, ‘Osho’s words introduced me to the eternal truth of death.’

When Guru Rajneesh returned from America, Swami Vinod also returned with him. They again looked for Vinod Khanna, some films were successful but Swamiji had lost the spring of five years ago.

Amitabh is very versatile. So many different characters and each character has a special charm. Even if he has become a worker, he looks more handsome than a hero. The gaze rests on them. There is certainly a certain appeal in Vinod Khanna, but the problem lies in playing a versatile and layered role.

It is often believed that he would have given Amitabh Bachchan a big hit if he had not left the film world.

But on the contrary, in our opinion, there was no such possibility for a long time.

Above we have written the names of successful movies of Vinod Khanna in 70s. Have you ever heard of any of these movies?

Rajesh Khanna is mentioned because he was a trendsetter. This was the case with Amitabh Bachchan. No such feat has been attributed to Vinod Khanna. And if he could not shoot such an arrow in his rich youth in the 70s, what would he have done in the 80s?

Amitabh Bachchan was the ‘Angry Young Man’. Compared to him, Vinod Khanna is just a handsome hero.

Amitabh is very versatile. So many different characters and each character has a special charm. Even if he has become a worker, he looks more handsome than a hero. The gaze rests on them. There is certainly a certain appeal in Vinod Khanna, but the problem lies in playing a versatile and layered role.

Vinod Khanna was very handsome in walking but he was not good at dancing or jumping. You bring to mind the songs filmed on Vinod Khanna, is there even a song where his dance plays a role in making the beautiful composition more Dev Malai?

There are twenty songs of Amitabh Bachchan in which his presence proved to be the X factor. He copied Bhagwan Dada’s style and introduced a special style of dance.

How can an actor leave a strong impression in Bollywood without songs?

Vinod Khanna and Amitabh worked together in films like Reshma Aur Sheera, Zameer, Heera Pheri, Khoon Pasina, Amar, Akbar, Anthony, Maqdar Ka Sikander and Parwarsh and their pairing was very popular.

Despite being rivals, neither of them had the same tizzle that Rajesh and Amitabh had. Rajesh has never acted in a multi-starrer film, but Amitabh and Vinod have done dozens of such films.

An incident is narrated that during the shooting of ‘Mukdar Ka Sikandar’, Amitabh Bachchan had to throw a glass at Vinod Khanna and Vinod had to dodge the glass.

As director Manmohan Desai called action, Amitabh hurled a glass at Vinod Khanna. Vinod could not bend in time and the glass hit him on the chin.

A stream of blood came out of his face and the relationship between the two was washed away. After this incident, the two did not play important roles together in any film.

Villain-turned-hero-handsome hero, Guru Rajneesh’s special disciple and later Bharatiya Janata Party MLA-turned-politician Vinod Khanna’s life is as interesting as a movie.

The same film industry that gave him recognition left him for Guru at the very peak. He later became an active member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the same party that had expelled his guru.

Join Independent Urdu’s WhatsApp channel for authentic news and current affairs analysis Click here.