Rajesh Khanna's childhood home is a temple now

Amritsar: In a congested neighbourhood of Amritsar's walled city, the place where the family of Rajesh Khanna, who went on to become a Bollywood superstar in the 1970s, lived is now a temple.

The house in this Sikh holy city's Gali Tiwaria was donated by Rajesh and a temple was constructed several years ago.

The heartthrob of millions in the 1970s, Rajesh had last visited his birthplace in January. Rajesh, who had been a Congress Member of Parliament (MP) from New Delhi, was specially called earlier this year to campaign for Congress candidates in Punjab's assembly elections.

Bollywood's ultimate romantic hero, Rajesh Khanna, passed away on July 18 at the age of 69. With many hit films behind him, Khanna was not only Hindi cinema's first superstar but an inimitable style icon. What was his family life like? Here's a family tree.
Rajesh Khanna was married to actress Dimple Kapadia and has two daughters Twinkle and Rinke with her. He married Dimple six months before her film Bobby was released.
Khanna himself came from a foster family and the people who raised him were related to his biological parents.
It was his uncle who suggested he take the screen name of Rajesh. His original name was Jatin.
Quite a sensation among women at his time, Khanna symbolized a romantic love, the flavour of his time. He had women lining up on the road for a glimpse of his car passing by.
He was reportedly in a 7-year-old relationship with designer-turned-actor Anju Mahendru which ended on a sour note.
It is said Khanna was also seeing Tina Munim, now Ambani, during a time in his life. But the relationship did not last and Tina went ahead and married businessman Anil Ambani.
His marriage with Dimple Kapadia lasted for 11 years until they separated in 1984, without filing for divorce. They have two daughters.
Rajesh Khanna's elder daughter Twinkle was an actress till she quit the industry after her marriage.
Twinkle married actor Akshay Kumar in 2001.
She started her own interior designing company The White Window store and completely quit the industry. Theirs is a happy marriage.
Rajesh Khanna's younger daughter Rinke also started her career in Bollywood.
Twinkle and Rinke grew up with their mother Dimple after she separated from Rajesh Khanna.
Rinke is married to London-based investment banker Samir Saran.
The family is seen together on many occasions and Dimple and Rajesh's breakup did not leave lasting bitterness among the children and other members of the family.
Dimple and Rajesh used to be seen together at parties even after their separation and she even campaigned for his election.
Rajesh Khanna is said to share a bond with his son-in-law Akshay who was an outsider to the film fraternity and had to work his way up the ranks over the years.
Rajesh Khanna's house in Mumbai sees fans camping out and is witness to many occasions of both joy and bitterness.
Twinkle and Akshay have a son Aarav together.
Aarav Bhatia is the youngest member of the family. But he will soon have to give up that privilege to his sibling as Twinkle is pregnant with her second child.

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$Rajesh Khanna\'s childhood home is a temple now$

Rajesh Khanna

"He used to love to play cricket when he lived here. He was a simple boy when he lived here and led a simple life even after achieving so much," Rajesh's foster brother Muni Chand Khanna said here.

Born Jatin Khanna on Dec 29, 1942, he was adopted and raised by foster parents - Chunni Lal Khanna and his wife Leela Devi.

"We had met him (Rajesh Khanna) when he came here earlier this year for campaigning. I remember going to his Mumbai house (Aashirwad) once with our father (Muni Chand Khanna) when we were small kids," Varun Khanna, the son of Muni Chand, told IANS.

The relatives of the former Bollywood superstar continue to live in the same locality where Rajesh grew up. "We are service (class) people," Varun added.

The family here has no immediate plans to reach Mumbai for Rajesh's cremation on Thursday. The late superstar went from being Jatin to Rajesh, thanks to his uncle who changed his name when he decided to join films.

In 1965, the journey to filmdom started after he won the All India Talent Contest organised by United Producers and Filmfare. He made his debut with 'Aakhri Khat' in 1966.

"We spent three days in a gurudwara when we reached Bombay (now Mumbai). Those were hard times," said friend Satish Khanna, who also tried his luck in the film industry.

In 2009, Rajesh was offered the Congress ticket for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat to contest against cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu. He however, had declined the offer.