Bollywood prays for Rajesh Khanna's departed soul

Comments [ 0 ] By IANS | 21 July 2012 | 7:14pm

bollywood superstar rahesh khanna

From megastar Amitabh Bachchan to the famed Kapoor clan - a horde of Bollywood celebrities, mostly dressed down in white, attended a prayer meet here Saturday in reverence of India's first superstar Rajesh Khanna.

The veteran star passed away Wednesday morning following a prolonged illness and liver infection. He was 69.

The chautha or the fourth day of mourning for Rajesh Khanna was organised in a grand way at the Taj Land's End hotel in Bandra here. His entire family, including estranged wife Dimple Kapadia, daughters Twinkle and Rinke, sons-in-law Akshay Kumar and Sameer Saran, as well as grandson Aarav, were present at the event.

Almost all guests were dressed in white as a mark of peace for his departed soul.

The set-up was also white - a big photograph of the actor was put up and it was adorned by a garland of white flowers. Either side of the photograph had a slideshow of his old and classic pictures, reminding the star-studded audience of the "phenomenon" that he was.

The hall at the hotel was decorated with white flowers and candle arrangements welcomed the guests. The entrance also had pictures of the superstar, decorated with white roses.

Among the celebrities spotted were Amitabh-Jaya Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Anupam-Kirron Kher, Rakesh Roshan, Hrithik-Susanne Roshan, Vinod Khanna, Yash Chopra, Jeetendra, Kabir Bedi, Gulzar, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Tabu, Jackie Shroff, Abbas-Mustan, Zoya Akhtar and Ramesh Sippy.

Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor made an appearance on a wheelchair, with support from his grand-nephew actor Ranbir Kapoor. The Kapoor brothers - Randhir, Rishi and Rajiv were present too, and so was Rishi's wife and Ranbir's mother, Neetu.

Politician Amar Singh was also seen, as were Jaya Prada, Reena Roy, Suniel Shetty, Satish Kaushik, David Dhawan, Prakash Jha, Poonam Dhillon, Padmini Kolhapure, Shakti Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Sonu Sood, Sanjay Kapoor, Ramesh Taurani, Neelam, Ashutosh Gowariker, Farah Khan, Sajid Khan, Deepika Padukone, Prateik, Sajid Nadiadwala, Bindu, Sikander, Sonakshi Sinha, Prem Chopra and Malaika Arora Khan.