It is Rajesh Khanna's 80th birth anniversary on December 29. The superstar breathed his last on July 18, 2012. Now, going down memory lane, the late actor's close friend Bhupesh Raseen got candid about the superstar in a recent interview. Talking about how he hasn't yet come to terms about losing Rajesh Khanna whom he fondly called Kakaji, he said, 'I have come to the same land in Bandra where Kakaji's iconic bungalow Aashirwad (at Mumbai's Carter Road) stood and am talking to you outside its gate. He would have been 80 today if he was alive. He was unique. He had the DNA of a superstar, which he proved on-screen and off-screen. He lived his life King's size.' Bhupesh also went on to reveal that Rajesh Khanna knew 15 months before his demise that he wouldn't survive from cancer that he was battling. He said, 'Even much before he was diagnosed with cancer, I tried my best to take him off his cigarettes and alcohol, but I failed.' Mentioning Mumtaz was Rajesh Khanna's favourite heroine, Bhupesh said, 'She even came to see him a few months before he passed away. She tried to keep him in good spirits by talking like a chatterbox. He told her 'You should have been cast in 'Sholay' as Basanti. They even shared a very emotional moment when Mumtaz spoke about her cancer.' Going further down memory lane, Bhupesh also revealed that Rajesh Khanna didn't want to take his last breath in the hospital and told him that 'he wants to slip away peacefully at home.'
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