At the height of his stardom, Vinod Khanna made a startling choice: he eschewed the glamor of Bollywood, joined the Osho community in the US, and lived a simple life, even working as a gardener in Rajneeshpuram.
His sudden exit from the film industry created a void that was soon filled by the meteoric rise of Amitabh Bachchan. However, according to Osho, this transformation deeply affected Khanna.Swami Shailendra Saraswati, Osho’s brother, shared his thoughts on Khanna’s emotional state during his time in the municipality. He noted that the actor often seemed isolated and unhappy, which led many to assume that he missed his wife and young children. But Osho saw things differently.“He saw that Vinod was sad, and asked people around him what was bothering him. They said he missed his family. But Osho was not convinced. He said, ‘No, he does not miss his family. Ask him to return to India and contest the elections against Amitabh Bachchan,'” Osho’s brother said in an earlier interview with Hindi Rush.“I never imagined he had any political aspirations, but Osho had that kind of insight,” Saraswati said.
He could see what even the person himself could not see. He knew that in Vinod’s subconscious, there was a deep sense of loss, not of family, but of status. He left Bollywood when he was at the top. In his absence, Amitabh Bachchan became the number one star.”He further added, “Vinod’s conscious mind was trying to convince him that he was a gentleman who missed his family. But Osho said that what he really missed was his position, his place at the top.
“He envied Bachchan, and this pain manifested itself in other ways.”Khanna eventually returned to India in the late 1980s, where he returned to the world of films with renewed determination and delivered several successful projects. He later entered politics, serving as Union Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Vinod Khanna passed away on April 27, 2017, after a battle with advanced bladder cancer, leaving behind a legacy that continues to resonate with generations of film lovers.