Rajesh Khanna wanted to work with me: Rituparno

Director and actor Rituparno Ghosh remembers the screen legend
I vividly remember the time Rajesh Khanna called me three-four years back. Someone had given me his number and said that he would call. I remember his name flashing on the screen, and for a few seconds, I did not take his call. I wanted to savour the pleasure of that moment ��� Rajesh Khanna was calling me.
When we spoke, he had one request.Would I work with him, he asked me. He had probably heard of me from Dimple (Kapadia) ��� whom I���ve known for many years ��� or had come to know about my work with Amitabh (Bachchan). It was a pleasant discussion and but did not crystallize into anything concrete.
My memories of Rajesh Khanna go back to my childhood; watching ���Haathi Mere Saathi��� and being mesmerized. That was a time when watching Hindi films was still frowned upon in Bengali households. Over the years, I realized the full extent of his charisma. Rakheedi (Gulzar) has worked with both Amitabh and him at the height of their popularity. I remember her telling me that even Amitabh���s fan following could not be compared to the frenzy for Rajesh Khanna.
His collaboration with Shakti Samanta, Sharmila Tagore, SD Burman and RD Burman in films like ���Aradhana��� and ���Amar Prem��� are milestones in Hindi cinema in the way they nationalize the essence of a Bengali text and story. I personally think that he and Rinkudi (Sharmila) gave a more nuanced portrayal of forbidden love in ���Amar Prem��� than Uttam Kumar and Sabitri Chatterjee in the Bengali original, ���Nishipadma���.
My favourite film starring him is ���Avishkaar��� (1974), the second film of the Basu Bhattacharya trilogy (the others are ���Anubhav��� and ���Griha Pravesh���). The other two star Sanjeev Kumar, considered one of the best of actors of that era. But in ���Avishkaar���, Rajesh Khanna redefined character acting and showed that you need not be a non-hero to portray a flesh-and-blood character.
As told to Satadru Ojha