Rajesh Khanna born 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was a Bollywood actor, film producer and politician. He was referred to as the "first superstar" and the "original superstar" of Indian cinema. He earned these titles following 15 consecutive solo hit films in the 1970s, a record that remains unbroken. Khanna married Dimple Kapadia in March 1973, six months before Dimple's debut film Bobby was released and has two daughters from the marriage. Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia separated in 1984. Their elder daughter Twinkle Khanna is married to actor Akshay Kumar, while they also have a younger daughter Rinke Khanna.

He appeared in 163 feature films of which 128 films saw him as the lead protagonist; he appeared in 17 short films as well.He won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards and was nominated for the same fourteen times. He received the most BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) – four times and nominated 25 times. In 1991, he was awarded the Filmfare Special Award for completing 25 years in the industry, appearing in a record 106 films as the single lead protagonist in a span of 25 years. In 2005, he was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. He made his debut in 1966 with Aakhri Khat and rose to prominence with his performances in films like Raaz, Baharon Ke Sapne, Ittefaq and Aradhana. He gave 35 Golden Jubilee Hits in the period 1966-1975, three more in 76-78 and 35 more in the period 1979-1991 and gave 22 silver jubilee hits in the period 1966-1991. He was the highest paid Indian actor from 1970-79 and shared the honour with Amitabh Bachchan from 1980-87. He was known as one of the first casanovas in Indian cinema. He was also a Lok Sabha member of the Indian National Congress from New Delhi constituency from 1992 to 1996.

After a long battle with illness, Khanna died on 18 July 2012.