Vinod Khanna – the powerful actor of bollywood.

Vinod Khanna – the powerful actor of bollywood.

Vinod Khanna is one of the most popular actors of the 70s and 80s and has mae notable contribution to bollywood films for more than 35 years. In the early 70s he acted in hit films like Aan Milo Sajna as anti –hero, where Rajesh Khanna was the main actor. He showed his action skills within short period of time and became the leading action heroes of the 70s along with Big B.

He acted in challenging roles and balanced the powerful personality of Big B, in those films. In Zameer, he acted opposite Big B, and both of them never knew their actual parenthood, as a dacoit kidnapped the child of a honest person and made him a dacoit. In Amar Akbar Anthony, in 1977, he acted as the elder brother and a police officer, who was separated from his parents and the other tow brothers played by Big B and Rishi Kapoor, and were united at the end of the film. It was one of the most successful films of Manmohan Desai, and the songs of the film composed by Laxmikant Pyarellal, impressed the viewers. Vinod Khanna matched the romantic performance of Rishi Kapoor, with strong lips in songs like “parda hai parda”, “shirdiwali saibaba”, sung by Rafi and comedy performance of Big B, with impressive lips in the song “my name is Anthony”, sung by Kishore with his powerful personality and elegant dialogue throwing. He acted opposite Shabana Azmi in the film.


He performed well the film Burning Train, opposite Parveen Babi, as an engineer,who built the train which was damaged by keeping a bomb in the train by Danny. It was a multi-starrer film with Dharmender and Jeetender providing impressive performances and Vinod Khanna showed the depth of the character by providing instructions as to how the accident and death of the passengers could be stopped in the film. He was very impressive in the film Qurbani, opposite Firoz Khan and Zeenat Aman, where his action skills balanced the stylish acting of Feroz Khan.


Vinod Khanna took a break from films in the early 80s, but when he returned back, he provided good performance in the film Dayavan opposite Firoz Khan, where he helped the helpless and took action against the lawbreakers in the society. His performance in the films Jurm, Satyamev Jayate, was very impressive. He also impressed the viewers with his character acting in some films and launched his son Akshay Khanna in the film Himalaya Putra. His films still have appeal, even after 30 years of their date of release and he is considered the second most popular actor after Big B as he provided strong challenge to the personality of Big B in films like Parvarish, Mugaddar Ka Siqandar, Hera Pheri, Khoon Pasina, etc.

Lata Mangeshkar – the uncrowned queen of Indian playback singing

Lata Mangeshkar – the uncrowned queen of Indian playback singing.

Lata Mangeshkar had dominated Indian playback singing for such a long period of time that she can be considered uncrowned queen of Indian playback singing. She made her presence felt right from the time of Mahal, picturised on Madhubala, with hits songs like “ayega anewala”, in 1947, till Dil to Pagal Hai, picturised on Madhuri Dixit. Not only was she sublime in her performance, she had been the role model of numerous female singers of the present generation.

She was blessed with a romantic voice which had classical training and outstanding range which could suit any situation in a film. Her association with all the composers (excepting OP Nayyar), creates a separate identity along with Rafi. Her everlasting performances include “duniya kare sawal” picturised on Meena Kumari, composed by Roshan, “aja re pardesi” picturised on Vaijayantimala, composed by Salil Chowdhury, “aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai”, picturised on Wahida Rehman, composed by Sd Burman, “aji ruth kar ab” composed by Shankar Jaikishan for Sadhna, “alla tero naam” composed by Jaidev for Nanda, “aya sawan jhumke” composed by Laxmikant Pyarellal for Asha Parekh, “dil dhoonta hai” composed by Madanmohan for Sharmila Tagore, “o jab tak hai jaan” for Hema Malini, “is more se jate hai” for Suchitra Sen, composed by RD Burman. The list can go on. Even composers like Naushad, Ravi, Kalyanji Anandji, Khayyam loved her the most.


Even actresses like Madhuri Dixit, Kareena Kapoor, Sri Devi, Rani Mukherjee, Preety Zinta had given lips in her songs. She had sung for all the big banners of Bollywood, including Raj Kapoor’s Banner, Dev Anand’s Navketan Banner, Dilip Kumar production, GP Sippy Banner, etc. She had sung between 25,000 to 30,000 songs in a span of 60 years. So her contribution cannot be highlighted in a small article.


Neither do the awards given to her including filmfare awards, national awards project her domination in the industry. Other than Rafi, no other playback singer had dominated the Indian silver screen like Lata. She also had sung huge number of duet songs with Rafi, Kishore, Mukesh, Manna Dey, etc. Singers of the new generation should follow her footsteps for sustaining the challenges in playback singing according to the need of the present time.

Article By: Supriya Chatterji.

Related Reading

• Lata Mangeshkar – the uncrowned queen of Indian playback singing
• Lata’s combination with RD Burman
• Lata and Shankar Jaikishan
• Lata and Naushad
• Lata and Madanmohan
• Lata and SD Burman
• Laxmikant Pyarelal and Lata
• Salil Chowdhury and Lata
• Lata and Roshan

Sridevi – the impressive actress of bollywood.

Sridevi – the impressive actress of bollywood.

Sridevi is one of the leading South Indian actresses who had dominated both bollywood films and South Indian films in the 80s. She impressed the viewers with her notable performance in the film Himmatwala, opposite Jeetender and the dancing skills of both of them brought a new dimension to bollywood films.

She got roles in the big banners, like Karma, directed by Subhash Ghai. Her performance was impressive along with brilliant acting of Dilip Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Nasiruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, etc. The film was based on terrorism and the theme was new and fresh in the mid-80s, with Dilip Kumar facing the terrorists with offenders who were facing life sentences.


Sridevi was brilliant in her role in Jaanbaaz, as the wife of Firoz Khan, who was killed by the consumption of drugs. She became the leading star of the 80s, with her blockbuster Mr. India, opposite Anil Kapoor.

Mr. India was directed by Shekhar Kapoor with a topic related to fantasy where a person, by wearing a technological gadget could be invisible. Anil Kapoor became Mr India and destroyed the evil plans of Amrish Puri, by becoming invisible. Sri Devi acted as a journalist who stayed in Anil Kapoor’s house as a tenant and showed her comedy skills along with romantic skills and powerful dancing.


She had acted in the hit films of the leading actors of that time including Akhree Rasta, opposite Big B, Chandni, opposite Rishi Kapoor. She even had done well in double roles, like the one played in the film Chaalbaaz, opposite Sunny Deol and Rajnikant. She had carried on the rich legacy of acting and dancing displayed by other leading actresses of South India, like Vaijayantimala, Hema Malini, and showed that dancing can be displayed as creative arts.

The audience expects her to re-enter bollywood films, by acting in character roles in future.

Article By: Rumi Chatterji.