Rajesh Khanna was the first actor to gain superstar status in bollywood during a nearly three-decade reign at the top of the Indian film industry, died Wednesday after a brief illness. Khanna began his career in the mid-1960s in romantic films that were hugely popular.

Screaming fans surrounded him whenever he appeared in public. Women married his photograph and wrote him letters in their blood. His amazing chemistry with some of the finest actresses of Bollywood was phenomenal, from Sharmila Tagore to Mumtaz , Indian cinema produced a number of greatest hits with the romantic hero and his pairs.