India, July 18 -- On his death anniversary, a book revisits the rise and solitude of India's first true superstar, Rajesh Khanna, writes SAKSHI PRIYA

Thirteen years ago, on this very day, Mumbai came to a standstill. The skies opened up in mourning, traffic jammed across the city and nearly a million people gathered on the streets, waiting for one final glimpse of the man who had once defined Hindi cinema: Rajesh Khanna. Monsoon chaos and the rawness of collective grief. People didn't come to bury an actor. They came to bid farewell to their hero, the one who had lit up their lives in the glow of his smile, who had taught them that romance could be poetry and heartache a kind of beauty.

At his peak between 1969 and 1972, there was no pr...