[31] BR Chopra, Bimal Roy, GP Sippy, HS Rawail, Nasir Husain, J.Om Prakash, Mohan Saigal, Shakti Samanta and Subodh Mukherji and others had created the United Producers organisation and were then judges of the contest.

[42] Backed up with chartbuster songs, including "Yeh Reshmi Zulfen", "Bindiya Chamkegi", "Chup Gaye Saare Nazaare", it went a step ahead and emerged an All Time Blockbuster, in turn making Khanna and Mumtaz a hit pair.

[47][27] He continued his domination at the box office in 1970 and 1971 with films, such as – The Train, Sachaa Jhutha, Safar, Aan Milo Sajna, Kati Patang, Mehboob Ki Mehndi, Anand, Andaz, Maryada, Haathi Mere Saathi, Chhoti Bahu and Khamoshi, eventually giving 17 consecutive successes in a span of three years, a record which remains unbroken to date.

[56] It also had some highly popular songs like "Duniya Mein Logon Ko", "Kajra Lagake Gajra Sajake", "Ro Na Kabhi Nahin Rona".

However the last release Maalik (1972 film) was box office flop[58] Out of them, Hrishikesh Mukherjee's musical comedy drama Bawarchi is regarded as a cult classic today and was remade in many Indian languages, including Hindi itself.

[60] In 1973, his first release was Sachin Bhowmick's romantic drama Raja Rani in which he starred alongside his Aradhana co-star Sharmila Tagore[61] which ended up as a commercially successful venture.

[63][64] After this, he reunited with Tagore for Yash Chopra's maiden production and sixth directional venture Daag: A Poem of Love which also had Rakhee in the lead.

[65] Inspired from Thomas Hardy's novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, it was a major critical and commercial success, eventually emerging a blockbuster and laying the foundation of Yash Raj Films (which is the biggest production house in India till today).

[68] His final release that year was the social drama film Namak Haraam, which too received positive reception and proved to be a superhit at the box office.

[71] All of its songs were major hits too, especially "Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Guzar Jate Hain Jo Maqaam" sung by Kishore Kumar.

[73] Prem Nagar like the original opened to excellent response from the audience, eventually doing more business than Khanna's last major hit Aap Ki Kasam and emerging a blockbuster.

[74][75] While Ajanabee did reasonable business and proved to be a semi-hit, Avishkaar was a box office failure, but a huge critical success and won Khanna his third and final Filmfare Award for Best Actor for his subtle portrayal of a disillusioned husband.

[78] The shift from romantic and social movies to action oriented multi-starrers changed the box office equation and saw the emergence of another rival Superstar in the form of Amitabh Bachchan.

[80][81] In 1975, Khanna starred alongside Shashi Kapoor and Mumtaz in Raj Khosla's Prem Kahani and did a guest appearance in the war film Aakraman.

[84][85] The following year, he reunited with Hema Malini for Shakti Samanta's highly anticipated romantic drama Mehbooba based on Gulshan Nanda's novel Sisakate Saaz.

While Tyaag and Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein didn't do well, Chhailla Babu, Karm and Chalta Purza proved to be decent box office successes.

[91] Before the end of year, he appeared in another of J. Om Prakash's directional Aashiq Hoon Baharon Ka, which was highly anticipated before release, but flopped commercially.

[91] The next year, he had four releases, out of which, Ramanand Sagar's romantic drama film Prem Bandhan, Muaqabla, Amardeep, proved to be a successful venture, but Naya Bakra and Janta Hawaldar were commercial failures.

[97] In 1981, he co-starred alongside Raaj Kumar, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini and Priya Rajvansh in Chetan Anand's reincarnation drama Kudrat.

[104] In 1982, Khanna starred in three big budget multi-starrers, Vijay Anand's Rajput, Umesh Mehra's Ashanti, Sultan Ahmed's Dharam Kanta, all three of which emerged box office successes.

[36] His good run continued in 1984 with a huge hit in K. Bapaiah's action comedy film Maqsad, which also had Jeetendra, Jaya Prada and Sridevi in the lead, followed by two more successes in Naya Kadam and Dharm Aur Qanoon.

[2] In the 2000s, he tried to make a comeback with films, such as Pyaar Zindagi Hai (2001), Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa (2002), Wafa: A Deadly Love Story (2008), but none of them were commercially successful.

[150] Khanna was a member of Parliament for the Indian National Congress, from the New Delhi constituency, where he won the 1992 by-election, retaining his seat until 1996 after which he was not interested in active politics.

[151] Khanna and a group of foreign investors bought land in Shirdi, on which he built a religious resort for disciples of Sai Baba.

[181] Khanna's on-screen pairings with Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Tina Munim, Padmini Kolhapure and Poonam Dhillon was also popular in the 80s.

Burman went on to make a number of popular films, including Kati Patang, Amar Prem, Shehzada, Apna Desh, Mere Jeevan Saathi, Namak Haraam, Aap Ki Kasam, Ajnabee, Maha Chor, Karm, Phir Wohi Raat, Aanchal, Kudrat, Ashanti, Agar Tum Na Hote, Awaaz, Hum Dono and Alag Alag.

[11] His funeral ceremony was attended by 9 lakh (900,000) people and his fans came from places like Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Pune, Bangalore and other countries.

Mumtaz also added that she had memories of having worked with him and said that she had been crying the whole morning, but was happy that she had met the ailing Rajesh Khanna in Mumbai in June 2012, when the two discussed their respective battles with cancer.

Regional political leaders who offered their condolences included Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, who said: "Rajesh Khanna was always a symbol of romance.

"[11] Condolences also came from Pakistan where Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf called Khanna a "great actor whose contribution to the field of films and arts would be long remembered.