Monday, July 30, 2012

Tributes to Rajesh Khanna – Can the media please be truthful?


Last fortnight saw the death of a superstar. Rajesh Khanna perhaps took up as much newsprint and on air time in his death as he did in the prime of his acting career. Most reports and features were tributes to his great performances as an actor, and many took the liberty of gently admonishing today’s filmmakers by extolling the values of the 19070s era (romance and charm versus the ruthless violence shown in movies today).


Few reports mentioned his well publicized personal life – radically different from his on screen persona – or even made a mention of his failures (and there were many). Vir Sanghvi’s piece in The Outlook magazine briefly mentions his off-screen life but not without contrasting it with Amitabh Bachchan, then a fledgling actor who would go on to replace Khanna as the next super star. Gargi Parsai mentioned his desperation to seek media support as a politician. The one account that stands out is perhaps Sunil Sethi’s. This piece is significant because it makes Rajesh Khanna seem human. Without being judgmental, the piece talks about Khanna’s imperfections - in reel and real life – and gives us a small peek of the man and what stardom did to him.

A good tribute is one that stays truthful to the person and does not paint him as a perfect human being. No one is perfect. It is these deviations from perfection that shape personalities and make people memorable. Sadly, the Indian media has chosen to make a saint out of Mr. Khanna, like they often have of numerous other deceased celebrities. What is worse, they have done a tawdry job of it.

Most tributes to Rajesh Khanna have focused on his stardom, while conveniently ignoring his directors and playback singers, without who this feat would have been impossible. There are no nuggets of information on his acting methodology, his working style, his inspirations, or for that matter how he viewed his ascent into cinema – all of which fans would not disapprove of. Not only is this shallow writing, it also creates a perception that Khanna was perhaps as shallow in real life because reporters couldn’t seem to get any meaningful information out of him or his circle of friends. On closer observation, most of the features and reports look more like tributes to the 1970s, while using the superstar’s death as a mere peg.

To bring a dead person alive through a feature is not easy. Deifying them (by seeking ‘good will’ quotes from former colleagues) is not the answer.

(I wrote this piece for the Hoot Blog. You can read it here and share your comments.)

1 comment:

  1. insurance providers, their bankers were IDBI and Kotak Bank, Hyderabad, their financers, media and radio partners, etc. They did not forget the contribution and participation of single person also. That's something to be appreciated for the success of the movie.

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