There was a time when Rajesh Khanna reigned in India's filmdom without any challenge. It was in the early 1970s that he truly became the heart-throb of millions in India and elsewhere around the globe. A combination of boyish charm, all that carefully combed (and perhaps gelled) hair and the ease with which he serenaded his screen lovers effectively brought to an end the careers of such actors as the younger siblings of Raj Kapoor. It was sad seeing Shashi Kapoor slowly going into oblivion, though losing Shammi Kapoor was hardly anything to be gloomy about. He was not made for greatness, but for rolling and twisting on the grass in paroxysms of comical passion.
So here was Khanna becoming the rage of all of India; and people who had occasion to watch his movies in the early 1970s came back to inform their friends of what a fine actor he was. And then, of course, came Amitabh Bachchan, whose versatility as an actor proved to be Khanna's undoing. The man who had by that time married Dimple Kapadia found it hard to compete with the more vibrant Bachchan. The new artiste was well on his way to becoming the big B. Rajesh Khanna went into irreversible decline.

There is a particular sadness in watching actors slip quietly into irrelevance after all the years of adulation they have received from the masses. But age is something no one can hold back, even though Raj Kumar and Dev Anand tried bravely to do precisely that. At one point in her advancing years, the celebrated Nadira, whom we remember as the haughty princess in the movie Aan, wept bitterly on television. The tears had to do with the fact that a new generation of movie-goers did not remember her. Pakistan's Shamim Ara too grew old with time and possessed none of the features that made her a beauty in the 1960s. She did not shed tears, but went into directing movies.
In Bangladesh, similar changes in thespian fortunes have been noticed. Razzak, the reigning hero of the 1960s and 1970s, gracefully took upon himself certain character roles over time. Faruk, a remarkable actor, should have been around for a longer period of time. He simply appeared to remove himself from the centre of things. Jasim was good in his own way, but early death put a stop to his future. Manna, had he lived, would perhaps have graduated to a better actor than he was at the time of his death. We will never know.
In Pakistan, Santosh, Darpan and Sudhir gave way to Mohammad Ali, Waheed Murad and Nadeem. In times closer to the present, it was a joy watching Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Madhuri Dixit, Manisha Koirala and Raveena Tandon on screen. Of course, equally powerful actors like Tabu, Deepika Padukone and Vidya Balan have emerged. You feel happy. And then you wonder why the long-legged, seductive Sushmita Sen has not been around for quite a while.
The writer is Executive Editor,
The Daily Star