RAJENDRA KUMAR A.K.A. JUBILEE KUMAR

No actor in Bollywood's history had a successful run of six or seven films simultaneously in all the theatres in Mumbai for over 25 weeks. The 1960s saw Rajendra Kumar rise like no other star had risen. No other actor has had as many silver and golden jubilees

It was a success that was unbelievable and Rajendra Kumar was soon known as 'Jubilee Kumar'. He had many successful box-office hits including 'Dhool ka Phool' (1959), Mere Mehboob (1963), Sangam (1964), Arzoo (1965) and Ganwaar (1970). He received Filmfare Nominations as Best Actor for Dil Ek Mandir (1963), Ayee Milan Ki Bela (1964) Arzoo (1965), and as Best Supporting Actor for Sangam (1964) (he acted with Raj Kapoor and Vyjanthimala).

He was part of Mehboob Khan's magnum opus- Mother India,the bible of Indian cinema. In Mother India he acted with Sunil Dutt as Nargis' sons.he was considered a golden boy for the movie producers in the sense that he was the actor who could recover the producer's money in a mater of weeks.despite so many boxoffice hits,he never won a Filmfare award, but was nominated for Best Actor cat- egory three times.

Talk of his films that were a hit. you name them and they all had the best of songs sung by Mohamed Rafi. There was a time when film goers looked for the cast, music director and playback singers before watching a film. In the early 60s the main reason of the success of Jubilee Kumar's films was the superlative music given to him by both Shankar-jaikishan (SJ) and maestro Naushad Ali.

Take for instance some of the songs sung by Rafi for Kumar which are a hit even today. “Mere Mehboob Tujhe Meri Muhobbat Ki Kasam” film Mere Mehboob, stands out as probably one of the greatest creations of Naushad ever in the history of Bollywood music, all the songs for Kumar were by Rafi and had revealed the royal elite culture of Aligarh and Lucknow in the form of shayri and ghazals. Rajendra Kumar and Sadhna were at their best.

In Ayee Milan Ki Bela, Aarzoo, Hamrahi, Suraj you have some of SJ'S immortal and brilliant songs “Aha aye Milan ki bela”, Tum khamseen ho”, O sanam tere ho gaye hum.” Brilliant songs include “Chalke teri aankhose” film Aarzoo, “Teri pyari pyari surat ko” in Sasural.