A very big star one of the few
To compete with the holy Trinity
Of Dharmendra
Rajesh Khanna
Amitabh Bachchan
His life can be bifurcated into multiple parts
Childhood he was born to Punjabi parents who lived in Mumbai, he could speak Marathi very well much to his father's charging ,
He completed his schooling from St Sebastian Goan High School Rajesh Khanna was his school friend
He then did his Bachelor Of Science from Siddharth Jain College in Mumbai
Jeetendra was a huge fan of Dilip Kumar
After his father's heartattack he decided to do something for his family, since he wasn't from a well of family and not very sound in academica he decided to become an actor and met V Shantaram
The struggle
It's said that Jeetendra once upset V Shantaram due to his un punctuality that the veteran director ordered for him to be sent back to Mumbai,after a confrontation with his father a teary eyed V Shantaram forgave him and then Jeetendra did everything to please his mentor .
From being an extra to being a stuntman for the leading everything he did in Sehra
Afterwards he went to was given a lead role in the movie Geet Gaya Patharone which did moderately well
Jeetendra at this time was under an exclusive contract with V Shantaram but was let gone of it that's when he did Farz a role let go by Feroz Khan which did very well for him
It was the start of James Bond inspired movies in Bollywood.
Jeetendra was actually banking on Boondh Jo Ban Gayi Moti his last with mentor V Shantaram
& Gunahon Ka Devta movie for which he was supposed to get 55 thousand but got 5 thousand only
The Start
In 1969 Jeetendra along with Sanjay Khan and Rajesh Khanna were considered the new stars of the industry.
He has given his first quartet of hits
1970 was an equally successful year with the cameo in Khilona and hit Humjoli which produced by Jeetendra himself.
1971 saw the release of Caravan a huge hit in India and an international blockbuster
The Slump Jeetendra faced a Slump similar to his Contemporaries Rajesh Khanna and Sanjay Khan a new generation of actors had taken center stage the likes of Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan .
He has some moderate success in the next two years like Parichay,Jaise Ko Taisa and Bhai Ho Toh Aisa
But was quite behind the likes of Dharmendra
A good year the man Lv Prasad who have Jeetendra the big hit Jeene Ki Raah came to his rescue again and presented to him with Bidaai another huge hit
The sedate 1975–1979
When the likes of Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan,Vinod Khanna were ruling the roost along with new Star Rishi Kapoor Jeetendra was just surviving by giving the odd sleeper hit in Suntan
& Piggy backing on Dharmendra's shoulders and getting huge hit Dharam Veer
And Jaani Dushman another multistarer
His career was punctuated with Hits such as Swarg Narak,Khandaan ,Apnapan etc
Jeetendra was a very punctual person like Amitabh Bachchan this gave him alot of brownie points and helped him survive also it was during this time he was started to be known as a bad actor
but still a rung below Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna leading superstars of the era
1980 Huge comeback and competition
After Vinod Khanna's decision to go to Osho ashram Jeetendra took the third spot after Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra
In 1980 he had his 2nd Quartet of hits Aasha,Jyoti Bani Jwala ,Judaai and Mang Bharo Sajna.Aasha in particular was a huge blockbuster only trumped by Feroz Khan's qurbani and beat Shaan the most awaited film of 1980
1981 was again a great year Meri Awaaz Suno became such a huge hit that it broke the records of Sholay in many places another huge hit was Ek Hi Bhool
It was during this Time that Jeetendra developed a huge partnership with Kader Khan
Who belonged to the Amitabh Bachchan camp
1982 was again a very good year as Farz Aur Kanoon became a huge hit which was very similar to Shakti which didn't work inspite of having Amitabh Bachchan,Salim Javed and Dilip Kumar
During this time Jeetendra had produced a movie called Deedar E Yaar which flopped miserably and forced Jeetendra to look down south literally
1983 was one his best years as again he gave a quartet of hits Himmatwala, Mawaali, Justice Chowdhury and Jaani Dost
Himmatwala was considered the biggest hit of the 4 and was later remade to disastrous results
1984 was again a very good year as Tohfa became the hgoty and movies like Qaidi and Maqsad also did very very well. Qaidi had clashed with Amitabh Bachchan's Sharaabi yet managed great numbers
Jeetendra was doing so well that after Amitabh Bachchan's decison to retire due to political ambitions he became the new no 1
which he gracefully said no to
https://www.cinebuster.in/jeetendra-my-son-is-a-better-actor-than-me/Successful still
An entire generation of actors came in the likes of Mithun Chakraborty,Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Sunny Deol
Swarg Se Sundar a huge blockbuster he gave with Mithun Chakraborty in 1986
Jeetendra still kept doing well and gave big hits like Khudgarz
Which launched his friend Rakesh Roshan's career in a big way
Concluding years by the 1990s Jeetendra had transitioned himself to Supporting roles in movies like Thaanedaar,Rang,Dil Aashna Hai etc
Unlike Contemporaries Amitabh Bachchan
And Rishi Kapoor
Jeetendra didn't continue acting
He became a builder a very prosperous one to say the least
and takes macro decisions in his production house Run mainly by his daughter Ekta Kapoor
Jeetendra inspite of being considered a bad actor easily made the transformation from being family social & a romantic hero
To an out and out masala action hero with ease
I personally feel Akshay Kumar was greatly inspired by Jeetendra's career graph which was built on punctuality and discipline
Anil Kapoor has always maintained that Jeetendra is his idol.
Inspite of never regularly working with the big wigs Jeetendra managed to create a very successful career for himself as a main lead echoed by his friend Prem Chopra
Just like alot of other actors Jeetendra also recieved the Filmfare lifetime achievement award
People talk about Salman Khan Akshay Kumar as being the king of remakes
But the trend started from here
Many of his records are yet to be broken
People call SRK has having the best hair in bollywood but 83 year old Jeetendra is giving him a run for his money
Nowadays he spends his time with his buddies a hard earned rest for our superstar