He did not possess Dilip Kumar's brooding intensity, Raj Kapoor's artful naivete, or Dev Anand's jaunty insouciance, but still went on to carve a successful presence in the Hindi film industry.
With his innate air of restraint and dignity, soulful, expressive eyes, and quivering lips, Rajendra Kumar made tragic roles of the stoic hero, the wronged but dutiful son, the silent suffering suitor his special forte.
With his appearance guaranteeing a hit in the tear-jerkers that were and still are a staple of Indian films, it is no wonder he was nicknamed "Jubilee Kumar", or even less charitably, "The Poor Man's Dilip Kumar". But Rajendra Kumar, who would have been 95 on Wednesday, proved he was not limited to melodrama.
He went on to perform in a successful costume swashbuckler, essaying characters with shades of grey and even black, an Indian Air Force officer, among many others, in a nearly four-decade-long career. And then there is the help he gave to Dharmendra, Manoj Kumar, Feroz Khan, and even Rajesh Khanna in their fledgling careers.
But the high point of his film stint was the 1967 film "Aman", possibly the first with a powerful anti-nuclear weapons stance, and marking the only appearance of the renowned British philosopher, pacifist, and Nobel Peace laureate, Lord Bertrand Russell in any film, Hollywood or Bollywood.
As the story goes, Rajendra Kumar half-seriously suggested to producer-director Mohan Kumar that they approach Russell for the film, given its storyline, and despite the filmmaker's misgivings, a letter was sent.
The Kumars were surprised to get a reply within 10 days, saying Russell was amenable, but due to his age, could not travel and was ready to give them an hour if they came to him in the UK. They did so, and he was so taken in with the experience that he freely gave them many more hours of his time.
"Aman", shot in the UK and Japan, and pairing our hero against Saira Bano, playing a Japanese doctor, while Balraj Sahni and Chetan Anand, played their respective fathers, was not that successful in India, and the appearance of the great philosopher unfortunately dubbed in the film also did not make that many waves.
It was, however, a milestone in Indo-Japanese relations, and much more popular across the Middle East, from Iran to Egypt, making Rajendra Kumar a most recognisable face in the region. And then, it has one of the most candid scenes ever seen in Hindi films a son asking his father for a cigarette, and Sahni carried out the scene with aplomb.
"Aman" also marks possibly a rare appearance of ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh
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