Rajesh Khanna, a late Bollywood actor, celebrated his birthday on December 29. There was a mad craze for him during the 1970s when he was called the first superstar in Bollywood.

In honor of Mother’s Day, former Bollywood actress and social activist Somy Ali remembered how her mother had a huge crush on the late actor.

“My mom had the biggest crush on him and all she would listen to was his songs, the majority of them sung by Kishore da, which would blast over the tape recorder in our house when I was a kid in Pakistan,” she reminisced.

‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ was the first film she remembers watching from him. “I enjoyed it because of the love he had for animals and was furious at how cruel the leading lady was to him and jealous of his compassion and love for his elephant. Given I was five years old at the time and could not make the distinction between real life and a movie,” said the actress who worked in movies such as ‘Aao Pyaar Karen’, ‘Anth’, ‘Chupp’ and others.

She also recalled watching ‘Anand’. “I remember my mother crying profusely when Kaka ji died in the end. When I was seven years old, my father organised a trip for my mom and me to visit Mumbai,” said the former Bollywood actress.

“My dad was close friends with Dutt Saab’s manager, and he facilitated our visiting sets with Amit ji, Dharam ji, Rekha ji, and Kaka ji. So, I was lucky enough to meet him when I was seven and he invited mom and me to his house ‘Ashirwaad’ for lunch,” she shared. For her, the memory of that encounter is as vivid as if it happened yesterday.

When she was seven years old, she told ‘Kaka ji’ she wanted to marry him when she grew up. “He laughed out loud of course, and my mom was shocked and somewhat embarrassed. He was a thorough gentleman and I believe there will never be a superstar like him in the history of Bollywood. That smile, the emotions, the romance and the music, no one can beat that,” said Somy.

Her favorite films are ‘Southen’, ‘Roti’, ‘Red Rose’, ‘Anand’, ‘Bawarchi’, and ‘Amrit’.

With him and Mumtaz, she enjoyed pretty much everything. “Their chemistry was phenomenal. Quite similar to that of Amit ji and Rekha ji or Kajol and Shah Rukh,” said the actress.

She watches Rajesh Khanna songs before going to bed. a nightly ritual. The strangest thing is that the day before he died, I was watching ‘Kati Patang’ at night and I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen to him while I did not know that he was severely unwell. The next morning, I read of his passing in the newspaper and I was bawling like a little kid,” she said.

(With inputs from IANS)