Rajesh Khanna

Rohan Khanna (Akshaye Khanna) is a jobless graduate living with his grandfather (Alok Nath) and his mother (Moushumi Chatterjee). Rohan has been tirelessly looking for a decent job without success. One day, Rohan's neighbor, Ranjit arrives to bring his parents to America. Ranjit lives in America, owns a motel, a home, a car, and is married to an American woman. He wishes to keep his parents in America to live in peace. After listening to Rohan's desire for a job, he suggests that Rohan should move to America. Ranjit promises Rohan success and Rohan is immediately persuaded. He tells his mother and grandfather of his wish and they are abruptly reminded of Rohan's late father, Balraj Khanna (Rajesh Khanna) who left his wife and son for America after a bitter argument with his father. In a bus accident, Balraj is killed leaving Rohan orphaned and his mother widowed. To avoid the same fate of his son, Rohan's grandfather prepares Rohan's visa for America. Rohan arrives in America and immediately meets Sardar Khan (Kader Khan), a Pakistani man who makes a living by driving a taxi. Rohan's good manners and friendly personality wins Sardar over as he drives Rohan to Ranjit's hotel. Rohan does not have any spare cash to pay Sardar so he asks Sardar to stay while he asks Ranjit for the taxi fare. He is shocked when Ranjit does not give him money or a place to stay saying that Rohan has to be able to help himself. Sardar overhears the two arguing. Rohan looks and sees that Ranjit's father and mother are working at the hotel and facing much verbal abuse from Ranjit's wife. This is not the peace that Ranjit had promised his parents. Sardar offers Rohan a place to stay much to the dismay of his roommate, Iqbal Singh (Jaspal Bhatti), a Punjabi man from India. Rohan is allowed to stay with Iqbal and Sardar with the persuasion of Chaurasia (Satish Kaushik. Chaurasia runs an Indian restaurant and betel leaf shop. Rohan is given a job as a taxi driver. One day, while making routes near the airport, he picks up a young Indian woman named Pooja (Aishwarya Rai). Pooja has just arrived in America to live with her older brother and his wife. Much to the shock of Pooja, her brother only brought her here because his boss had seen a picture of Pooja and had fallen in love with her. Pooja's brother insists that Pooja marry his boss and in anger, she leaves his home without money and no where to go. Rohan sees Pooja crying and he offers her a place to stay with Iqbal and Sardar. Iqbal and Sardar discover that Pooja and Rohan have brought happiness into their house and the give them not only a place in their home, but a place in their hearts. Iqbal, Sardar, and Chaurasia pitch in to provide jobs for both newcomers. They are also acquainted with PC Jack Patel (Paresh Rawal) who is a police inspector on weekdays and a Hindu priest on weekends. He observes both jobs faithfully by preserving American law and Hindu values. Both Pooja and Rohan begin to work at a Dunkin' Donuts but after a tussle with some customers who tried to harass Pooja, both are fired and without jobs. This protective relationship between Rohan and Pooja causes Pooja to fall in love with him deeply much to the happiness of Iqbal and Sardar. Rohan finds a job as a gas station employee and Pooja remains unemployed. One day at Chaurasia's restaurant, Rohan becomes frustrated with his lack of progress and Chaurasia advises Rohan to get a Green Card by marrying an NRI girl. Rohan and Pooja go to an Indian dance to search for an NRI girl much to Pooja's disapproval. There, Rohan meets the seductive Loveleen (Suman Ranganathan) and he falls in love with her immediately. Pooja, Iqbal, and Sardar do everything to keep Loveleen away from Rohan until Rohan becomes aggravated and tells the three to stay away from him and Loveleen. Iqbal tells Pooja to follow Rohan and Loveleen to Seaside Heights and declare her love for him. She is rejected by Rohan and he later tells her to stay away from him. Iqbal and Sardar accuse him of being consumed by money. Rohan tells them that they are jealous of his progress. Iqbal tells Rohan that one day he will regret his decision one day and come back to Pooja. Rohan leaves the house for Loveleen in rage. In order to forget Rohan, Pooja finds a job as a caretaker for a rich Indian man who is ill. We discover that this man is Balraj Khanna, Rohan's estranged father who has not died. Balraj has been living in New York with his son, Karan. Karan's mother left Balraj when Karan was very young. Karan has grown to be a spoiled and arrogant young man who is also friends with Loveleen. He consistently asks his father for money to spend for his enjoyment. He even took a loan from Marko, a dangerous drug dealer and Karan has not yet paid him back. In order to pay back his debts, he is assigned to transport drugs around the country. Balraj begins to take a liking to Pooja and considers her as a daughter. He wants to keep her in his home so he asks her to consider marrying Karan. Karan and Pooja are both against the idea. Meanwhile, Rohan is beginning to realize that Loveleen's American culture deeply goes against his and he begins to regret his decision. He becomes fed up with her ways and realizes he is really in love with Pooja. He leaves Loveleen with no where to go because of his poor decisions. Jack Patel forces Iqbal, Sardar, and Rohan to reconcile and they forgive Rohan for his mistakes. Rohan sets out to ask Pooja for forgiveness. She is in Springfield with Balraj at the moment and Rohan arrives there to meet her. After a confrontation between Rohan and Pooja, Rohan tells her that they will go back home to India together, hence Aa Ab Laut Chalen (Come, Let's Go Back). Pooja forgives Rohan and Rohan gives her a locket with a picture of his mother inside saying that it is a promise that he will marry her. Pooja tells Balraj that she has fallen in love with a man named Rohan and he encourages her love for him. Meanwhile, Karan becomes desperate for the money so he decides to marry Pooja. After violently urging her to marry him, her locket falls on the ground and Balraj picks it up. When handing it to her, he sees Rohan's mother, and his wife. He realizes that Rohan is his son but does not tell Pooja. After hearing that he is unemployed, he tells Pooja that he will give Rohan a job in his company. But he fears that his son will not accept him as a father though because he left him and his mother back in India. Rohan accepts the job and is deeply grateful to Balraj. He wishes for a chance to meet him. Balraj continues his generosity from afar by giving Rohan a $5000 bonus. Rohan returns to Ranjit's motel and frees Ranjit's parents by paying for their tickets to return to India. Ranjit is also arrested by Jack Patel for keeping the passports of his parents. Rohan spends the rest of his money by buying gifts for all his friends including Iqbal, Sardar, and Chaurasia. His mother is also happy to know that Rohan has found the love of his life and a decent job. One day, Rohan is invited to a party where that Balraj will attend. When Rohan meets Balraj, he is stunned to realize that Balraj is his father and very much alive. He reacts in anger and tells him that he has left his mother a widow and his son an orphan. Balraj openly confesses to everyone that he has left his wife and son in India and does not deserve everyone's respect. Balraj reveals that after he arrived in America, he went back to India to find his family but he could not. Hence, he married another woman. Rohan sill cannot bring himself to forgive his father because he has caused his mother's suffering. Balraj insists to speak to his wife to ask for forgiveness. Rohan calls his mother to tell her that her husband is still alive. She immediately forgives Balraj and asks them to come back to India. Karan emerges saying that if Balraj leaves for India, he has to leave his fortunes to Karan in America. Balraj refuses and tries to slap Karan but Karan stops him. Karan tries to slap Balraj but Rohan stops him. Rohan and Balraj embrace and Balraj tells Karan he will give all his property to him but he will not be his father. Balraj, Rohan, and Pooja all leave for India. They say their goodbyes to Iqbal and Sardar as well. Suddenly, PC Jack Patel arrives with Karan. Turns out that Karan has turned in important information about Marko to the officials. Karan tells Balraj that he does not want the wealth but he wants to return to India with the rest of his family. Rohan and Balraj accept Karan and the family leaves for India. We later see Rohan's mother welcoming Balraj, Rohan, Pooja, and Karan in their home and they finally live happily together.

Raj Anand is a Bollywood movie director and lives a wealthy lifestyle with his wife, Padmini, and only son, Varun. He is respected and liked in the industry and is known to be a man of honesty and principles. He feels that Varun should make a debut in one of his movies, which he decides to call "Nagar Vadhu" (Prostitute), and hopes to cast a well-known Bollywood actress, Sakhi Swami, opposite Varun in the female lead role. The only problem is that Varun dislikes acting, but when Raj persuades him, he changes his mind, and agrees to act in this movie. Varun meets with Sakhi, and both are attracted to each other. This does not auger well with Raj and he puts a stop to the production immediately. It is then that Varun finds out that his principled father has been known to have an illicit relationship with Sakhi. How will this knowledge help him overcome the wall of mistrust that has now arisen between his dad, himself, and Sakhi. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

A woman fights for justice after her fiancé is killed by criminals who are acquitted for his murder. Advocate Jyoti and Deputy Commissioner of Police Khanna are in love and hope to materialize this relationship into marriage soon. Meanwhile Khanna red-handily catches two criminals Vikram and Shakaal involve in a triple murder case, arrests them, lodges them in a cell further pending trial in a court of law. Vikram happen to be the only son of a corrupt Minister, Prajapati while Shakaal is his henchman who uses his Ministerial position to let both Shakaal and Vikram out so that they can kill Khanna after which they immediately return to the cell. Jyoti arrives just in time to witness the murder of her fiancé only to place both before the court whereby her witnesses turns hostile resulting in the court acquitting both. Jyoti then brings to light Prajapati's true colors to the public and in retaliation Prajapati's men abducted Jyoti and gang-raped her younger sister, Nisha before her eyes. After this incident Nisha is traumatized and find it difficult to lead a normal life again prompting Jyoti to take the law into her own hands. —gavin (racktoo@hotmail.com) DCP Khanna known to bring criminals to his knees and his lover Advocate Jyoti makes sure the court gives proper punishment to those criminals they are very much in love but Jyoti wont get married until her younger sister Nisha does.Nisha studies in college where she meets Arjun and both start liking each other on the other hand Shakaal and Vikram two criminals are caught during smuggling by Khanna but are left free due to pressure from Minister Prajapati who happens to be Vikram's brother.Khanna manages to get proof against the two criminals and gets them re arrested but before their trial in court. The two elope from jail and kill Khanna where Jyoti witness's the murder,but court acquits Vikram and Shakaal due to lack of evidence and considers Jyoti no tot be stable.Jyoti does not stop here in a public meeting she exposes wrong doing of Prajapati and he gets beaten by public.Prajapati then swears to revenge where he kidnaps Nisha whose raped by Shakaal and Vikram and others and goes in depression.Jyoti who has just lost her lover and is seeing her sister in depression decides to revenge on Prajapati and his men and stars eliminating them. Arjun who returns from police training is unaware of the tragic events,when he finds Khanna was killed he decides to take things in his hands but gets framed for murder. —alex.mjacko@gmail.com Advocate Jyoti practices law in Bombay High Court, romances Deputy Commissioner of Police Khanna, and both plan to marry soon. While investigating a triple homicide, Khanna's investigation take him to conclude that the murders were committed by Vikram and a gangster named Shakaal. He arrests both of them and holds them for a Court hearing. Before the hearing, Khanna gets killed, and the evidence is over-turned in Court, which lets both the accused go free. Jyoti is enraged by this, and decides to teach Vikram and Shakaal a lesson. She finds out that Vikram is Minister Prajapati's son, and Shakaal is also linked with this politician. She decides to go public against Prajapati, and as a result she and her sister, Nisha, are abducted and Nisha is gang-raped by Shakaal and his men. After her rape, Nisha is devastated and cannot live a normal life. Jyoti must now decide to avenge Khanna's death as well as the rape and abduction of Nisha or else re-locate and somehow try to put their lives together again. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Honest and diligent Forest Officer Kishan Srivastav (Jackie Shroff) and his wife Jaya (Jaya Pradha) come to the rural area of Ramgarh, and upset the criminal activities of Thakur Dayalu (Anupam Kher), a corrupt Police Inspector Kiran Kumar (Kiran Kumar) and their croonies, which include capture and death of wild life, so that Dayalu can decorate his palatial home. Kishan attempts to disrupt their criminal activities, he finds that Dayalu Singh has by-passed him and complained to his superiors, thereby getting him dismissed from employment and being framed and imprisoned for a murder. Apparently, this is not the only time that Dayalu has got away with murder. He had also killed Gopal (Sunny Deol) in the presence of his to-be bride, Jugni (Sridevi), making her lose her sanity. Dayalu frames Jugni's dad, Jwalaprasad (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) for the murder of Gopal. And with Jaya all by herself, Dayalu turn his lustful eyes on her. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com) Honest and diligent Forest Officer, Kishan Srivastav attempts to curb the exploitation of wild-life in the jungles surrounding a rural area called Ramgarh. The culprit behind this crime is the powerful and influential Thakur Dayalu who after capturing and death of these wild-life are using them to decorate his mansion. Dayalu attempts to bribe Kishan on one occasion and then another by making Kishan's wife, Jaya and young son a target; when he is unsuccessful he takes the help of a corrupt police officer, Kiran Kumar to frame Kishan for committing a murder and have him sent away to jail. Dayalu is also responsible for killing Gopal in-front of his fiancée, Jugni, making her lose her sane and in the process framing Jugni's father, Jwalaprasad for this killing. Meanwhile Jaya finds it hard to lead a normal life without Kishan and to worsen matters Dayalu continues to torment her as he has his lustful eyes on her. —gavin (racktoo@hotmail.com)

Inspector Ashok Sharma is assigned to take over as Inspector In-Charge of a remote police station, which he does. Upon his arrival there, he comes to the rescue of a blind man and a widow, and has a fist fight with Nishikant Shah and his men. The next day, Shah finds out that the person his men fought with is no other than the new Inspector In-charge, and he goes to pay homage, but Ashok refuses. Then Shah and the local MLA spin a web of lies and deceit, in which Ashok is accused of killing a man in custody, and as a result he may face criminal charges and also lose his job. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Avtaar Krishen lives a poor lifestyle with his wife, Radha, and two sons, Ramesh and Chander. He works in a factory and toils hard so that his sons can get the necessary education, and live a better lifestyle. He gets injured and crippled while working, but is compensated adequately by his employer, Bawaji. Years later his sons have grown up. While Ramesh has married Sudha and works with a bank; Chander is wooing Renu, the only daughter of wealthy Seth Laxminarayan. When Avtaar and Radha wish to go on a tirathyatra (pilgrimage), they ask Ramesh to book tickets for them, but he tells them that he has no money. When Radha gets sick, their servant, Sewak, enters Sudha's room to get some money for her treatment, as a result Radha does get treatment, but Sudha blames them for stealing her money. Avtaar asks Ramesh and his wife to get out, only to find out that the house is now in Sudha's name. AVtaar, Radha and Sewak move out and live in a shanty hut. Their hopes are with Chander, who does well in his exams, decides to marry Renu, and moves out without financially assisting his parents. Now Avtaar and Radha are elderly and dependent on Sewak, and the question remains will they resign themselves to this existence, if not, what possibly can a crippled older male accomplish, especially at this time in his life? —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Rajput began in 1975 as a dream project with all the makings of a blockbuster hit. It had Goldie as the director,LP as music directors; and Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna as the lead actors. Following her phenomenal success in Laila Majnu,the gorgeous Ranjeeta was also roped in. As if that was not enough, they also signed Tina Munim some time in the middle of the project. Unfortunately, the movie took seven years to see the light of the day, and it turned out to be only an average box office earner. There is no satisfactory explanation available as to why it took so long. Maybe there were problems with the dates of the overworked stars. To a viewer, the main problem appears to be the the weak story-line which ,it seems, was revised again and again, and it became weaker with each revision. The characters played by Dharmendra and Hema Malini are deeply in love, and they get physically intimate, but their parents-Om Shivpuri and Rehman- are sworn enemies. The result is that Hema gets married to the character played by Rajesh Khanna, and Dharmendra goes to jail as he kills the dacoit who attacks Hema Malini's Doli. Hema gives birth to Dharmendra's son who is raised by Rajesh Khanna as his own son, even though he knows the truth. Bhanu (Vinod Khanna) is in love with Kamali( Ranjeeta) who gets raped by Ranjeet who plays a tyrant ex ruler. Ranjeet is a widower who has a daughter from his first marriage-played by Tina Munim. Vinod Khanna forces Ranjeet to marry Ranjeeta, and kidnaps the daughter (Tina Munim) to settle the scores. Predictably, the kidnapped daughter falls in love with the kidnapper. In spite of the multi star billing, the bizarre twists to the story lead to the evident asymmetry in the relationships as Hema is the heroine for both Dharmendra and Rajesh Khanna; and Vinod Khanna is the hero for both Ranjeeta and Tina Munim. I give full marks to Goldie as he managed to make a watchable movie even though the project dragged for seven years for whatever reasons. Among the actors, Rajesh Khanna has performed the best. Physically, he looks less of a Rajput if you compare him with Dharmendra,Vinod Khanna, and Ranjeet. But his role was meatier, and he did full justice to it as the devoted lover, committed husband, caring and loving foster father, and a brave and intelligent Police Officer. Dharmendra didn't have much scope in the story. Vinod Khanna didn't have too much scope either, but he was the director's darling. Goldie sure gave special importance to his Guru Bhai ( Ref Acharya Rajneesh) ,Vinod Khanna, who gets significant footage particularly during the climax. It should be mentioned that while Goldie and Mahesh Bhatt had deserted Rajneesh, Vinod Khanna was still with the Godman and even went with him to America.He could shoot for the film only when he visited India. The girls were totally ignored except for some scintillating scenes of Hema Malini. Ranjeet was too young to play Tina's father and certainly inadequate to be the main villain. I recall when I first saw this movie, my fellow viewers wondered why Prem Nath was not there in the movie. Certainly a watchable film. The names of the actors should be taken to mean the characters played by them in the film.

Chandramukhi visits Shimla and learns that she is a reincarnation of Paro, a girl who was raped and murdered. Plagued by her dark past, she attempts to bring the culprits to justice. The setting is in scenic Simla, summer capital of the British Raj in the 1970's. Chandramukhi from Bombay is on holiday with her parents and so is Naresh, a US educated medical professional with his parents. Chandramukhi and Naresh show interest in each other, encouraged by their parents. Choudhary Janak Singh, an important and wealthy man lives with his lawyer daughter Karuna in a lovely colonial period mansion. Their house-guest Mohan, a lawyer from Chandigarh is a protege of Janak Singh. Karuna and Mohan develop a romantic interest. The story of Paro and Madho, who lived in pre-independence India comes to affect the present. Events of thirty years ago in the lives of Paro, Madho,Janak, Saraswathi, the gardener and the disgraced policeman come back to create soulful links between past and present. Themes from the life of Zamindars, British Colonial rulers, parapsychology and law are skilfully twisted, so that most turns in the tale are unexpected. Attention to detail is excellent.

Ashok Sharma lives with his mother in India, and they are a lower middle class family. Ashok gets an opportunity to travel to Switzerland for research purposes. Once there, he meets with Chandidas Rai, a businessman, who would like Ashok to work for him in his uranium laboratory, which Ashok accepts. Ashok meets with Chandidas' attractive daughter, Veera, and both eventually fall in love and would like to get married. While the two are busy making plans, Rai descends on them with the police and has Ashok arrested for stealing uranium, after seducing Julie, another employee of Rai. Did Ashok really steal the uranium? And what of his romance with Veera? —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Johny makes his living by conning people. Ginny enters his life and then nothing in the world can separate them from each other.

Rajesh Narain lives a poor lifestyle in a small town in British India along with his brother, Brijesh, Bhabi, and a niece, Munni. He attends college and has a sweetheart in wealthy Kamini Sinha, and both hope to get married someday. While Brijesh is actively involved in trying to force their oppressors (the British) to leave India, poetic Rajesh has no interest in politics. Things change when Brijesh gets killed and Rajesh decides to avenge his death by actively becoming involved with freedom fighters so much so that he quickly becomes a thorn on the Britisher's side and orders are issued to apprehend him - dead or alive. He even spurns Kamini, who ends up getting married to a man of her dad's choice. While on the run from the law, assisted by a Pathan truck-driver, Sher Khan, Rajesh finds shelter in the house of his childhood friend, newly-wed Superintendent of Police, Dheeraj Kumar - not knowing that he will soon be confronted by an embittered Kamini, who is the bride of Dheeraj; Sher Khan, who has been arrested and is being tortured may soon reveal Rajesh's hiding place, and from Dheeraj himself when he finds out that his best friend loves his bride. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Ram comes from a poor family, and works as a labourer for a living. One day he comes across an old woman in distress, and decides to assist her. This old woman is dying and asks Ram to promise to look after her young and destitute daughter, Radha, and Ram does so. Eventually, Ram and Radha get married and sire a baby boy. One day the child becomes seriously ill, and Radha goes to Ram's place of employment to get him to assist the child. It is there she finds out that Ram is living a parallel life as Laxman, and is living with a woman named Lalita. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Akash is a honest and educated young man, employed by the Bombay Municipal Corporation as a clerk. He lives with his equally honest brother, his sister-in-law, a niece, Sharda, and a nephew. Due to Akash's honesty he becomes a liability to his corrupt superiors. One day they find fault with his work, and dismiss him. When Akash attempts to assert himself legally, he finds that there is corruption everywhere. In retaliation, even his brother is implicated in a crime, and arrested. Now Akash must come up with a way to clear his brother, as well as expose the wrong-doers, but will he able to do so in this lifetime? —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Circa British rule in India, wealthy DIG of Police is approached by Devdutt, a poor freedom fighter, who would like his daughter, Janki, to get married to the DIG's son, Ratan. The DIG and his wife Rajlaxmi refuse to have to do anything with Devdutt, but Ratan refuses to marry anyone else. They eventually relent and agree to this marriage. Shortly after the marriage, riots ensue between the police and freedom fighters, and as a result the DIG is killed. Rajlaxmi blames Devdutt for his death, and asks a pregnant Janki to leave her house. Unable to stand up for his wife, Ratan remains a silent spectator while his wife is thrown out. Janki goes to live with her father, who eventually passes away, and it is then Janki gives birth to a son, Rajesh. Years later, Rajesh has grown up, drives a truck, and is in love with a local shop-keeper, Chanda, who he would like to marry. Janki would like her son to go and meet his dad, and when Rajesh does so, Rajlaxmi arranges a pompous welcome for him with open arms, hoping that he will leave his mother and stay on with her. But Rajesh refuses to do this unless Rajlaxmi apologizes to Janki. An enraged Rajlaxmi refuses to do so, and asks Rajesh to leave. Rajesh and Chanda get married, and soon Chanda gets pregnant. Then the police arrest Rajesh, for which he may face several years in prison. He is held in the local police station. The truth does prevail, the real culprit is caught, and Rajesh is let go. He returns home to find out that everything is not the same anymore. Chanda has given birth a baby boy, and now lives with Rajlaxmi, and refuses to return home. Rajesh must now find out what compelled Chanda to leave Janki and go to live with Rajlaxmi. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)