Vinod Khanna’s odyssey from ‘Angry Young Man’ to ‘Angry Old Man’ – via cricket and politics

New Delhi: Amitabh Bachchan has often been beaten up on screen but his assailants have subsequently got their deserts. However, this actor, Bollywood’s original “Angry Young Man,” got applause when he thrashed Big B in full public view, flinging him into a chicken coop, and bringing him out unconscious on his broad shoulders.

Vinod Khanna could make his presence felt, no matter the calibre of those he shared the screen with. It was no mean feat as this list includes the likes of Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Meena Kumari, Raj Kumar, Feroz Khan, Shatrughan Sinha, Rajinikanth, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, and Shahrukh Khan, besides Amitabh Bachchan.

Born on this day (October 6) in Peshawar in 1946, Khanna began as a villain but transformed into an evergreen hero by popular acclaim with his chiselled features, striking physique, and an intense emoting capability that spanned a charismatic machoism to an endearing vulnerability.

But it was cricket that was his first love, he once admitted, noting that he had played a fair amount but plumped for films when he realised that “I couldn’t be a (Gundappa) Vishwanath.”

A regular in Bollywood cricket matches, Khanna also had a deep understanding of the game. In an interview during the 1979 World Cup, he weighed on why he liked Sunil Gavaskar more than Vishwanath, citing his footwork, judgment against fast bowlers like Bob Willis and Andy Roberts, and poise.

However, to join films, he also needed some deft strokes, and help from some friends and acquaintances.

Character actor Manmohan, who was a friend, dragged a tired and reluctant Sunil Dutt to a late-night party where Khanna was present. It worked – Dutt was impressed as soon as he caught sight of the imposing youngster, called him over the next day and offered the villain’s role in his upcoming picture.

Khanna accepted but had to get the approval of his father, the traditional-minded Krishanchand Khanna.

Here he was lucky, as at Dutt’s office, he ran into his publicist, an acquaintance from his Delhi days, whose teacher father was well regarded by his father, and invited him home. When the elder Khanna found that their guest was in the movie business, he wasn’t very impressed until he learnt whose son he was. Admitting that his son wasn’t much interested in the family business and the film business wasn’t as bad as he thought, he did not oppose his son’s wishes.

‘Man Ka Meet’ (1968) was meant to introduce Sunil Dutt’s brother Som Dutt. However, it did not accomplish this goal, but brought Khanna and the heroine, Leena Chandavarkar, to notice.

1971 was Khanna’s year as he appeared in a dozen films, including the acclaimed ‘Mere Apne’, playing “Angry Young Man” Shyamu, he stood his ground against a bombastic Shatrughan Sinha. He went on to play another police inspector in Shammi Kapoor-starrer ‘Jaane-Anjane’, vicious dacoit Jabbar Singh in ‘Mera Gaon, Mera Desh’ facing Dharmendra, and a hoodlum in sci-fiction flick ‘Elaan’ – whose story predated ‘Mr India’. The year also saw him in his first role as a hero in ‘Hum Tum aur Woh’.

However, the roles that brought him to prominence were a military officer on the run after killing his wife and her paramour in ‘Achanak’ (1973), one of the Bollywood adaptations of the Nanavati case, and then, an idealistic college professor trying to reform a group of unruly students in ‘Imtihaan’ (1974).

Stern Inspector Amar in ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ (1977) – where he thrashed irreverent Anthony (Amitabh), another Amar, but on the other side of the law in ‘Qurbani’ (1980) where he displayed his Pathan heritage in the eponymous song, a workaholic railway engineer in ‘The Burning Train’ (1980) and an empathetic doctor in reincarnation drama ‘Kudrat’ (1981), were other major roles.

Khanna, who had become a disciple of godman Rajneesh in the mid-1970s, then took a break from films, though he was at the peak of his career, and moved to the godman’s ashram in the US.

He returned in 1987, where his career took off again seamlessly – with Meenakshi Seshadri in ‘Satyamev Jayate’ and Dimple Kapadia in ‘Insaaf’ (both 1987), and full vigour in Feroz Khan-helmed ‘Dayavan’ (1988) where he played a crime don and shared a sparkling chemistry with Madhuri Dixit. The offbeat ‘Rihaee’ (1988), ‘Batwara’ and ‘Chandni’ (both 1989), and ‘Lekin’ (1990) were other landmarks.

Khanna also entered politics, becoming a four-time MP and a Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. While his output slackened, he never abandoned the film industry

He stood out as Prajapati Pandey in the ‘Dabangg’ series – a transition to the “Angry Old Man”, and would have gone on had he not lost his battle against cancer in April 2017.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)

–IANS