Lasyapriya Sundaram (BOMBAY TIMES; April 24, 2018)

The 65th National Awards will be held in New Delhi on May 3. Late actor Vinod Khanna has been honoured with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award which has been won by other stalwarts in acting like Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Shashi Kapoor and Manoj Kumar in the past. The actor was undoubtedly one of Bollywood’s most dashing poster boys in the 1970s. After making a mark in Hindi cinema with villainous roles, he smoothly transitioned into playing the leading man. Last year, Vinod Khanna breathed his last at the age of

70. BT reached out to his eldest son, actor Rahul Khanna and got him talking about his relationship with his father, his favourite films and much more…

What are your first thoughts on Vinod Khanna being posthumously awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke award?
It’s a proud moment, naturally! Apart from being an actor, at his core he was the most avid film fan and, up until his last days, his favourite pastime was watching movies. So, being given this honour would have really meant a lot to him. If he had been around to receive this award, he would have been ecstatic.

Who is likely to go and collect the award on his behalf at the ceremony that will be held on May 3? Would you be keen on receiving the award along with your brother, actor Akshaye Khanna?
I’m not sure about that at this point.

During your growing-up years, were you aware that your father was such a huge star? Or did the realisation happen much later?
My parents split up when we were very young, so we didn’t actually grow up with dad around. However, I occasionally visited him on his film sets and I did have a reasonable notion that he was a big star. When you’re a kid, you don’t know any different and you just accept that as your reality. Some dads went to the office, some flew planes and our dad just happened to make movies.

His good looks are always spoken about and reams have been written about it. Give us an insight into the kind of person he was...
Dad had a larger-than-life persona, but he was unusually down to earth and always approachable to his fans and his constituents in Gurdaspur. As far as possible, he loved driving himself and was well known for stopping his car to give a ride to old ladies.

What are some of the things you enjoyed doing with your father. You once posted a picture of you teaching him how to navigate Twitter...
(Laughs!) Yes, he decided to give social media a try and got onto Twitter. When he started out on social media, he asked me for a few tips, but I think he was more of a people’s person and preferred connecting with his fans and constituents face-to-face. For him, that connect was more real.

Did you watch most of your dad’s films? Any favourites?
I love Qurbani (1980) and Dayavan (1988), but, Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) is my all-time favourite by a mile.

Your dad was a spiritually inclined person. Did you get to know that part of his persona?
That was a highly personal aspect of his life and I don’t think I necessarily knew too much about it.