A day after the death of Vinod Khanna, yesteryear superstar and veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan on Friday heaped ultimate praise on his friend for 48 years, when he said, “No one walked the way he did... no one had the presence he had in a crowded room... no one could lighten up the surroundings he was in, like him... no one...”
In a post uploaded on his blog “Bachchan Bol”, Amitabh shared his fond memories of Khanna, beginning with his meeting with the departed actor way back in 1969, when he was looking for a break and the latter was already an actor.
The veteran actor said he was then a new comer to the film industry, while Khanna was already big star who was always most humble with selfless concern for others.
Making no bones about the fact that Khanna made an excellent impression on him when he saw the latter for the first time 48 years ago, Amitabh wrote: “I first saw him entering the Ajanta Arts office in Bandra, of Sunil Dutt, where I was making my way to seek a job .. a most good looking handsome young man .. a body in elegant frame .. a swagger in his walk .. and a gentle smile as he looked towards me .. it was 1969 .. he was working in the Ajanta Arts film, ‘Man ka Meet’ .. I was struggling to get a role, any role, anywhere ..”
Amitabh, who had worked with Khanna in hit films like Amar, Akbar, Antony, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Parvarish, Khoon Pasina, Zameer and Hera Pheri, recalled his experience of working with Khanna for the first time in late Sunil Dutt’s film , ‘Reshma aur Shera’:
“In time we ( Vinod and I) met again within the same precincts .. he and I were working in the same film of Dutt Saheb, ‘Reshma aur Shera’ .. took trials in the office of the film .. travel and sittings on the story .. Thapa saheb, Ali Raza, Sukhdev and those all night meets, most novel for me .. my first brush with the way the film industry functioned .. the time for the shoot and the excitement of travel on a location in Jaisalmer ..”
“The months we spent together and after .. driving in the scorching heat of the deserts of Rajasthan to the location, Pochina, in the sands of nowhere near civilisation .. living under one tent - Vinod, Ranjit, Thapa Saheb, Ali Raza saheb about seven of us in the same tent .. then similar number at a make shift residence in the city of Jaisalmer - Amrish Puri joining us in that room filled with all of us, living laughing, working .. care-free days .. the rigours of that location and its environs,” Big-b recalled.
“On return from the location his continued connect with me .. he a big star .. but always most humble with selfless concern for others .. the rides he would take me on, in his recently acquired Beetle VolksWagen, yellow in colour .. his generosity in smuggling me into the only Disco Club in the city at the Taj, where he was a member, and I not even remotely in any state to become one ..,” Amitabh wrote.
Big-B also spoke about Khanna’s marriage with Geetanjali, “Whom he and we all fondly called Gitly .. the birth of his sons, Rahul and Akshay, whom he often brou-
ght on to the sets of AAA...”
The veteran actor said that Khanna was not the one to take things lying down. “That incident at a restaurant in SoBo, where someone made a snide remark, and he took him on, getting knifed in the arm during the scuffle, but being victorious ...”
With a touch of emotion, Amitabh remembered the passing away of Khanna’s father and happy times he had working together with the latter “The sudden passing of his father soon after our work together in ‘Reshma’ .. I being with him in his hour of grief .. and then .. the amazing chemistry of the several historic films that we did together .. an association that was so loveable and considerate...”