Shakti Samanta(1926-2009)

Father of Ashim S. Samanta.

I have seen Rajesh Khanna growing in my hands.His popularity lies in his expressive innocent face, No expression given is in itself an expression. A part of the share of his sudden uncomparable successes in a very short span, also goes to his directors and the subjects he got the opportunity to work on. Makers of romantic emotional themes owe him a lot and he to them for providing required platform for his unique calibre. Versatality in acting has enriched his variety of performances. For example, given a jubilant romantic song, his bright smile blossoms; given a mature soft sequence the same proves seductive and another dimension of it can move the hearts with the mood of a sad situation. No doubt his dominance over romantic roles earned him an exclusive mark in industry, just impossible within the reach of any other present romantic star. But we would be highly underestimating by calling him just a romantic star. For example, when we were making Anurag, he himself selected an absolutely small side character of a phoolvala. But the dedication which he gave to it , itself turned it into a main attraction of the film. Since we have worked a lot together and I know him since his early days, we have established a friendly rapport which helps us to understand each other better. Working with him is tricky. If he is taken for granted, he is of course not easy to handle. But by just adjusting to his moods, you see he is very emotional and sensitive person. He can be hurt within no time. One needs an extremely sensitive heart to understand him. And I can bet for his control over emotional especially romantic performances. In fact he is still the lone possessor of the unique style which he brought with him two decades back which helped him secure the place of a darling in the minds of audience who still flock to see even his mediocre starrers, just on his name. This style has helped him survive both good as well as bad phase of career. "