Vinod Khanna (6 October 1946 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is best known for his work in Hindi films;[2] while also being a notable spiritual seeker.[3] In Bollywood, he was the recipient of two Filmfare awards. Khanna was one of the highest-paid stars of his times, along with Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna.[4] He was the only superstar who could compete with Amitabh Bachchan's box office run in late 1970s to early 1980s before taking break from films.[5] Khanna was considered the style icon & fashion icon, often referred as 'Sexy Sanyasi' in media. After joining politics, he became the MP from the Gurdaspur constituency between 1998–2009 and 2014–2017. In July 2002, Khanna became the minister for Culture and Tourism in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet. Six months later, he became the Minister of State for External Affairs.[6]
In 1982, at the peak of his film career, Khanna temporarily took a break from the film industry to follow his spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh.[3] After a 5-year hiatus, he returned to the Hindi film industry with two successful films – Insaaf and Satyamev Jayate.[13] In his later film career, Khanna played several memorable roles as a father in blockbuster movies such as Wanted (2009), Dabangg (2010) and Dabangg 2 (2012).[14]
Khanna was born in a PunjabiHindu family to Kamla and Krishanchand Khanna on 6 October 1946, in Peshawar, British India (now in Pakistan).[15] He had three sisters and one brother. Shortly after his birth, India was partitioned and the family left Peshawar and moved to Bombay (present-day Mumbai).[16]
In 1982, Khanna took a break from the film industry to be with his guru Osho Rajneesh at the new Ashram in Oregon, USA.[41][42] Earlier, Khanna had met his spiritual guru Osho (Rajneesh) sometime in the mid-1970's and had started visiting the Osho Ashram in Pune over the weekends for meditation.[43] Khanna, who had taken initiation into Osho's neo-sanyas with the name Swami Vinod Bharti, also worked as a gardener at the Ashram.[43] Around 1986, the Osho ashram in the US developed friction with the US government and got closed, following which Khanna came back to Mumbai and re-joined the film industry.[44] When questioned whether he had quit following Osho, Khanna would show the wooden bead mala given to him by Osho, which he always wore; and he continued to visit Osho Nisarga Ashram, situated in Dharamshala in the Himalayas until his last years.[43]
Khanna also ventured into television, playing the male lead role of "Kashinath" in the Smriti Irani-produced Hindi serial Mere Apne, which aired on the channel 9X in 2009. In 2014, he played the lead role in Koyelaanchal, in which he played the role of a Godfather and leader of the coal mafia.[51] His last film to be released before his death was the 2015 film Dilwale alongside Shah Rukh Khan. The film was directed by Rohit Shetty and released on 18 December 2015 worldwide. He also acted in the film Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi, a biopic based on the life and times of Vijaya Raje Scindia of Gwalior. The film was released on Zee TV. In 2020, a delayed film he had shot and completed in 2014 was released titled Guns of Banaras which officially marks his final film appearance.
Politics
In 1997, Khanna joined the Bharatiya Janata Party[52] and was elected from Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab in the next year's Lok Sabha poll. In 1999, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the same constituency. Later, he became union minister for culture and tourism in July 2002. Six months later, he was moved to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as Minister of State. In 2004 he won re-election from Gurdaspur. However, Khanna lost out in the 2009 general elections. In the 2014 general election he was again elected for the 16th Lok Sabha from the same constituency.[53] No other Bollywood star has triumphed in four Lok Sabha polls (1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014). He also served as Union minister of state for tourism and culture, as well as external affairs.[54]
Personal life
Khanna met his first wife Gitanjali Taleyarkhan in college.[55][18] Khanna married Gitanjali in 1971[56] and had two sons with her, Rahul and Akshaye; both became Bollywood actors. In 1975, he became a disciple of Osho and in the early 1980s, moved to Rajneeshpuram.[42][57] Khanna and Gitanjali settled for a divorce in 1985.[58]
In 1990, upon returning to India, Khanna married Kavita Daftary, daughter of industrialist Sharayu Daftary.[59] They had a son[60] and a daughter.[61]
Illness and death
Khanna was hospitalised at Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre in Girgaon, Mumbai, on 2 April 2017 for a few weeks after suffering from severe dehydration. He died at 11:20 a.m. (IST) on 27 April, and it was revealed that he had been battling advanced bladder cancer.[62] He was cremated at the Worli Crematorium on the same day.[63]