Vinod Khanna

Vinod Khanna is the leading actor as well as was one of the highest paid actor of his era in Bollywood. He was born on 6th October, 1946 at Peshawar, British India (now Pakistan) in a business family. Just after his birth, Indo-Pak partition took place, so along with his family he moved to Mumbai. He had done his schooling from number of schools and finally completed his graduation in commerce from Sydenham College, Mumbai.

He delivered his performances in two innings, first from 1973-1982, then he took five years break and was again active from 1987-1995. In 1968, he debuted in the film 'Man Ka Meet' (1968) in a villainous role. He mainly featured as a villain or in the supporting role in the starting phase of his career in the films like, 'Purab Aur Pachhim', 'Aan Milo Sajna', 'Mera Gaon Mera Desh' and others.

After playing a series of supporting roles, he then moved into playing the lead roles. First one being, 'Hum Tum Aur Woh' (1971) in the year 1971. From the year 1973, he got kick start to his career. He delivered several hits like 'Parvarish', 'Amar Akbar Anthony' (1977), 'Khoon Pasina', 'Muqaddar Ka Sikandar', 'The Burning Train' and 'Qurbani'(1981).

He left his established acting career, when it was in full swing and went on to become the follower of spiritual teacher, Osho. After five years, he made his come-back in Bollywood in the year 1987, with his four films releasing that year. He is amongst those few actors who have successfully sustained their careers after the big-break. He came back with the same magic which he delivered earlier with series of notable films like 'Dayavan', 'Chandni' (1989), 'Kshatriya' and 'Eena Meena Deeka'.

In 1997, Vinod Khanna turned producer by producing his son's, Akshaye Khanna's debut film, 'Himalay Putra', even Vinod acted in it.

In 1999, he was awarded with Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his valuable contribution in Hindi Cinema for over three decades.

He has also ventured into Indian Television with Smriti Irani's serial, "Mere Apne", which used to feature on Channel 9X.

He joined politics in 1997 with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was elected for Lok Sabha from Gurdaspur, East Punjab.

Vinod has been married twice, first to Geetanjali in 1971 and divorced her in 1985. The couple has two sons, namely, Akshaye Khanna and Rahul Khanna. In 1990, he married Kavita and has a son, Sakshi Khanna and daughter, Shraddha Khanna.