Vinod Khanna was one of the most successful Bollywood actors of the 1970s and late 1980s. Within a couple of years, he started appearing as a leading star and never had to look back. Khanna was one of first stars who wooed the audience with not only his acting skills, but also his amazing physique.
Background
Vinod Khanna was born on 6th October 1946, in Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, British India (Now Pakistan). The partition, that happened less than a year after his birth, saw the family shifting to India. As a child, he went to St. Xaviers High School, Bombay, apart from Delhi Public School and Lord Bannes High School, Devlali. During his school years, he was very good in sports, especially football, cricket and tennis.
It was during his schooling at Delhi Public School that one of his teachers forced Khanna to act in a drama. Though reluctant, he finally gave in and the drama provided him the first brush with acting. In college, he was always surrounded by a huge group of friends, all of whom were die-hard fans of the Rock Group, ''Beatles''. Khanna develop his wonderful physique after working out under the guidance of Shyamlal, the wrestler who represented India at Moscow Olympics.
Education
It was during his schooling at Delhi Public School that one of his teachers forced Khanna to act in a drama.
Career
Film Career
One day, Vinod Khanna was attending a party and happened to meet the great actor Sunil Dutt. Dutt offered him a negative role in his film ‘Man Ka Meet’ (1969), which was to have his brother Somu Dutt as the hero. After fighting off the resistance from his family, he agreed to do the role and ended up being noticed more than Somu. Following this, he received a large number of film offers and was seen, playing supporting and negative roles, in hit films like ‘Purab Aur Paschim’ (1970), ‘Sachaa Jhutha’ (1970) and ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh’ (1971).
In 1971, Khanna was seen in ‘Mere Apne’, directed by Gulzar, which served as one of his major breaks. His next major film was ‘Achanak’ (1973), again directed by Gulzar, which won him great crucial acclaim. His great personality and excellent acting skills could not be retained in the negative roles and soon, he started receiving leading roles. He was seen in films like ‘Parvarish’, ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’, ‘Hera Pheri’, ‘Amar Akbar Antony’ and ‘Khoon Pasina’, with superstar Amitabh Bachchan.
During this time, Khanna was at the peak of his career and was counted amongst the top stars of the industry. However, the spiritual side of his personality took over and he announced his retirement from films. It was in the year 1978 that he left Mumbai and started living with Acharya Rajnish (Osho), in his ashram - Osho Commune International, at Pune. Osho went to USA in 1980 and Khanna followed him. There, he indulged in numerous manual and laborious jobs, like those of plumber, electrician, cook, gardener, etc.
Not much time had passed since Osho’s arrival in USA that he was arrested and was sent to jail. Disillusioned and disheartened, Khanna quit the Osho Commune and came back to India in 1985. After coming back to Mumbai, he entered the film industry once again. His comeback film ‘Insaaf’ was a major hit & established him in the top league again. Thereafter, he was seen in movies like ‘Batwara’, ‘Kshatriya’, ‘Suryaa’, ‘C.I.D.’, ‘Rihaee’, ‘Pathar Ke Insaan’, ‘Parampara’, ‘Mahasangram’, ‘Khoon Ka Karz’, ‘Dayavan’, and ‘Police Aur Mujrim’.
It was in the year 1997 that Khanna turned a producer, mainly with the purpose of launching his son, Akshaye. He produced the film ‘Himalaya Putra’, which did not turn out to be a box office hit. In 1999, he was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. Since then, Khanna has been seen in very few films, playing character roles, the recent ones being Deewaanapan (2002) and Risk (2007). Presently, he is acting as the male lead in the Hindi serial ‘Mere Apne’, produced by Smriti Irani, which airs on channel ‘9x’.
Career in Politics
Vindo Khanna joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1997. The following year, he was nominated for Lok Sabha poll, from Gurdaspur, East Punjab. The charisma of the star, along with the non-performance of the opposition candidate - Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, helped him win the poll. In 2002, Khanna became Union Minister for Culture and Tourism. Sometime later, he was moved to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), as Minister of State. In 2004, he fought the election from Gurdaspur and won again.