Bollywood's powerhouse actor Rajkumar was known for his booming voice and royal screen presence, but he was equally famous for his quirky, offbeat habits on set. One such story involves superstar Govinda and dates back to the shooting of the film 'Jungbaaz'.
A compliment on a shiny shirt, and a homemade handkerchief
During the shoot, Govinda arrived on set wearing an extremely good looking and shiny shirt. Rajkumar noticed it and liked it so much that he openly complimented Govinda on it. Hearing praise from his senior co-star left Govinda so pleased that he immediately took off the shirt and gifted it to Rajkumar. Govinda assumed Rajkumar would wear it on some special occasion. But a few days later, he was stunned to see Rajkumar pull out a piece of cloth from that very shirt out of his pocket to wipe his nose. Rajkumar had actually cut up the expensive shirt to turn it into his own pocket handkerchief.
From a sub-inspector's job to the film world
Rajkumar's journey into films is no less dramatic than a movie script itself. His real name was Kulbhushan Pandit, and before entering films he worked as a sub-inspector at the Mahim police station in Mumbai. His booming voice and blunt style were well known even within the police department. One day, filmmaker Baldev Dubey visited that same police station in connection with a case. He was so impressed by Rajkumar's forceful conversation, striking personality and remarkable confidence that he offered him the film 'Shahi Bazaar' right there. Rajkumar too had harboured a hidden desire to act, so he resigned from his police job without delay and headed towards Mumbai's film world.
Debut with 'Rangeeli', early flops, then a career of his own
Rajkumar began his career with the film 'Rangeeli' in 1952. He had to struggle a fair bit in the beginning, and some of his films also flopped. But he did not lose heart, and gradually carved out a strong place for himself in the industry on the strength of his powerful acting. He went on to act in several evergreen films such as 'Mother India', 'Pakeezah', 'Waqt', 'Heer Ranjha', 'Saudagar' and 'Tiranga', whose dialogues people still repeat today. Across his entire career, Rajkumar acted in around 70 films. He was honoured with Filmfare Awards for films like 'Dil Ek Mandir' and 'Waqt'.
Battled throat cancer in his final days, passed away at 69
Rajkumar kept everyone a little wary of him with his unique and fearless attitude. In the last days of his life, he was battling an extremely painful illness, throat cancer, and the disease's effect was visible even on that once thunderous voice of his. He eventually passed away on 3 July 1996 at the age of 69. Rajkumar may not be among us today, but stories tied to his life and films continue to live on in people's hearts.
