Rajesh Khanna on his way to eternal journey.

 

Rajesh Khanna was given a final adieu on Thursday by family, fans and film fraternity, as thousands of mourners thronged the streets in Mumbai even under heavy rains to have a last glimpse of Bollywood's first superstar during his eternal journey. 

Cine-star who rose to superstardam, the 69-year-old died on Wednesday at his "Aashirwad' home, two days after he was discharged from Lilawati hospital, was cremated at the Pawan Hans crematorium in Juhu. Khanna's last rites were performed by his grandson Aarav, with father Akshay by his side.

Lot of rumours afloat about cause of Khanna's death which was not officially announced by the family or doctors at Lilawati hospital, those close to the actor hinted at a liver problem.

"He had liver infection. He had liver problem. He had stopped eating food as he couldn’t eat anything. During the last stage of his life, he was on liquid like juice," Vijay Zaveri, Khanna's close friend, told.

Fans,admirers paid glowing tributes to Khanna, fondly called 'Kaka', there was chaos outside the crematorium with hundreds of people converging there and jostled with the police.

Slogans like "Rajesh Khanna amar rahe" rent the air while several mourners carried posters of the "King of Romance", who acted in around 170 films, mainly in the lead role. 

His innocence face, twinkling eyes, gestures of wisdom,toe walk, fluent dialogues delivery with ease in his well known film Anand, Bhawarchi, Amer Prem, was his natural or genetically talent embedded in his acts.During his or election campaign for others, his dialogues delivery he made the audience spell bound with his public speaking too. 

Bollywood stars, other eminent personalities,present include Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek, Kabir Bedi, Manoj Kumar, Randhir Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor, Raj Babar, Rani Mukherjee, Raja Murad, Shakti Kapoor, Karan Johar, Shekhar Suman, director Sajid Khan a close friend of Akshay Kumar, Sudhir Misra, turned up at the crematorium to pay their last respects.The funeral procession of Khanna began from 'Aashirwad' on Carter Road in Bandra at around 10 AM with fans queuing up outside his home.The cortege wound its way through the streets over a 10-km distance and it took about one hour to reach the crematorium.

The body of Khanna, kept in a glass coffin, was taken in an open truck, bedecked with white flowers.His son-in-law and actor Akshay Kumar, estranged wife Dimple Kapadia and his younger daughter Rinkie Khanna stood on the truck.The vehicle had huge black and white photographs of the actor on both its sides.

Rajesh Khanna 's photogenic face with sharp features along with natural timing of his gestures,emotion and dialogue, epitomised a range of emotions on the big screen from melancholy to romance--with a rich bouquet of lilting songs like 'Zindagi ek safar hai suhana' and 'Mere sapno ki raani' making his movies and characters immortal.Khanna the suave romantic hero, enacted serious roles with ease, was simply a phenomenon, his movies has presence of  girls student in large number in school dress enjoying his style of acting and boys aping his dialogues of his latest film, dress code,the design Kurta on pants, an usual crowd at Khadi store, was a usual sight of 70-80's thus churning out unimaginable 15 box-office hits in a row, unheard of in the film trade. Rajesh featured in over 165 movies in a career spanning three decades. His very name spelt magic in the 1970s.Kaka, as he was fondly known, was one of the highest paid actors of his time, his record of consecutive solo super hits still stands unbroken between 1970-1979 when he starred in mega hits like 'Safar', 'Kati Patang', 'Sachaa Jhutha', 'Aan Milo Sajna', 'Anand', 'Amar Prem' and 'Mere Jeevan Saathi'. The 1969 films 'Aradhana' and 'Do Raaste' were his super hits- where he teamed up with two of his best co-stars, Sharmila Tagore and Mumtaz, respectively. Khanna was Congress MP from the New Delhi constituency from 1991-1996.
Report of Geo Tv pakistan said,Bollywood legend Rajesh Khanna opened his eyes on Dec 29, 1942 after coming into this world in Burewala city of Pakistan and not in Northern Punjab's city of Amritsar.
He was born in his ancestral house located in Burewala, Block-H and its building continues to stand strong even today.
Rajesh Khanna's father, Lala Hiranand Khanna, was the first headmaster of MC School, Burewala, who got retired on in March 1947. Later in 1948, Hiranand Khanna migrated along with family to Amritsar following the partition of the sub-continent.
Rajesh Khanna received his education till Class-1 in MC Primary School, Burewala. At that time, the building of his house located adjacent to a central Mandir in Burewala Block-H. Today, the Mandir's building is a Police Station of Model Town.
The building still has words "Jattan Nawas" inscribed on it in Hindi language. Interestingly, the original name of Rejash Khanna was Jattan Khanna.
The residents of Burewala are in grief today on the demise of the super-duper star of Bollywood, who originally belonged to their city.
Media agencies