Today is the first death anniversary of the first greatest Superstar of the Indian film industry, in fact, its first superstar.
When superstar Rajesh Khanna passed away last year, it was indeed a sad day for the people of Dehradun and Mussoorie who have vivid memories of the actor when he shot for three of his films in Doon and Mussoorie — two of them in the seventies and one in the eighties. In fact, Rishikesh featured predominantly in his film Karm. Whenever he came to Doon or Mussoorie, he was at the peak of his career and people of the two towns exhibited the craze for him which was prevalent throughout the country.
The great actor’s interaction with students and staff of two of Mussoorie’s well-known schools namely Hampton Court and Wynberg Allen during the making of Karm in the seventies and Ghar ka Chirag in the eighties respectively endeared him to them. In Karm, the principal of the school was actress Sudha Shivpuri who later appeared as ‘Ba’ in Ekta Kapoor’s soap titled Kyunki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu thhi.
There are a number of scenes in Karm which show us the lovely campus of Hampton Court School (CJM). The Mohkampur area of the Doon valley (The railway crossing) is also quite recognizable. A considerable part of the film has been shot in Rishikesh which appears pristine and serene in the film — as it must have been in the seventies.
Schools of Doon valley, Mussoorie and Nainital have featured in many other Hindi films as they are in scenic locales and have beautiful buildings and infrastructure. Wynberg Allen school, one of the oldest institutions in the region, appeared in Rajesh Khanna’s 1989 film Ghar Ka Chiraag which was based on the older film Ek Phool, Do Maali where Balraj Sahni plays the role which Khanna plays in Ghar Ka Chiraag.
Rajesh Khanna’s film Kati Patang shows us Nainital in all its glory and at length. And for once, Nainital has been called Nainital and not by some other name! The song Jis Gali Mein Tera Ghar na ho Baalma has Rajesh Khanna and Asha Parekh boating on the Nainital lake which looks absolutely heavenly in the film.
The Nainital Boat Club is another favourite location with film makers. There are many other movies which have a song or two at the Club or the lake. One was the 1060s classic Waqt which shows Shashi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore and their group of college friends on a college trip to Nainital. People of Doon and Mussoorie will always get nostalgic when they watch the films of their favourite superstar showing their cities in the background.