'Rajesh Khanna was destined to be a superstar'

New Delhi: For the first time after Rajesh Khanna's death, his estranged wife Dimple Kapadia opened up about the time she spent with him. She said he was special and destined to be a superstar.

"I spent my life with him as I was 16 when I got married. He was not a normal man, he was a very special man," Dimple said on the sidelines of the inauguration of 'Retrospective of Rajesh Khanna-Superstar Forever' at the Siri Fort auditorium Saturday.

"There are so many things I can say about him but what is very very special about him is that his DNA was that of superstar," she added.

Recalling the last few days she spent with Rajesh Khanna, Dimple said: "In the last few days he said to me 'Pack up, the show is over'. He also said that 'I lived my life with lot of grace and please make sure that it lives forever'."

The retrospective is being organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as a tribute to the cinema legend, who died July 18 at his Bandra residence after a prolonged illness. He was 69.

The three-day event starts Saturday and will screen ten of the actor's landmark films. These are 'Aap Ki Kasam', 'Aradhana', 'Aakhri Khat', 'Amar Prem', 'Kati Patang', 'Ittefaq', 'Avishkaar', 'Bawarchi', 'Safar' and 'Anand'.

The 55-year-old Dimple, who was accompanied by daughter Rinke, thanked the ministry for organising the retrospective and help Rajesh Khanna fans relive the memories.

"I like to salute his each and every fan for having made this possible. I think the one thing that he would have said if alive today to his fans is - 'humein tumse pyar kitna yeh hum nahi jaante, magar jee nahi sakte tumhare bina'."

"I would like to thank DFF and the information and broadcasting ministry for having this retrospective. Thank your for giving a chance to relive his memories," she said.

Also present at the opening ceremony was producer-director Om Prakash, who worked with Kaka, as Rajesh Khanna was fondly called, in 'Aap Ki Kasam'.

"It's the great gesture to remember Kaka with his films including 'Aap Ki Kasam', in which I had the privilege to cast him. Rajesh and I had an association for so many years. He was a very warm-hearted person and a great actor. I think he was an asset and rather pride of any filmmaker he worked with," said Om Prakash.