Reaching superstardom (1969-1972):
It was 1969's Aradhana (pictured here) that changed Rajesh's -- or Kaka as he was fondly called by friends -- fate. Rajesh was seen in a double role, playing Sharmila Tagore's lover, and then son.
The film made him a star overnight. Girls went mad after seeing him, women waited for his car to stop at signals so that they could kiss the car's windowpanes, young girls wrote letters in blood...
In the same year, Rajesh scored once again with Do Raaste. In fact, both Aaradhana and Do Raaste were golden jubilee hits.
From then onwards, there was no looking back for Rajesh. He churned out hit after hit with Ittefaq (1969), Safar (1970), Kati Patang (1970), Sachaa Jhutha (1970), Aan Milo Sajna (1970), Mehboob Ki Mehndi (1971), Haathi Mere Saathi (1971), Dushmun (1971), Andaz (1971), Amar Prem (1971), Anand (1971), Daag: A Poem of Love (1973) and Namak Haraam (1973). He gave 15 hits in a row. No star had received so much love, fame and fan frenzy before. He became a phenomenon.
He dabbled with the choice of roles in his films. He played a murderer in Ittefaq, a cancer patient in Anand, a husband to two different women in Daag... His major hits were with Sharmila Tagore and Mumtaz but he did the maximum movies with Hema Malini.
During this time, he was nominated and won many awards too.
