Vinod Khanna was ‘deeply jealous’ of Amitabh Bachchan, ‘often cried’: Osho’s brother

Vinod Khanna was the epitome of charm and success in the 1970s and early 80s—a Bollywood heartthrob whose rise seemed unstoppable. Then, at the height of his fame, he did the unthinkable: he walked away from it all. He left everything behind to join Osho’s commune in the United States, taking sanyaas and disappearing into a world of meditation. Osho’s brother, Swami Shailendra Saraswati, who lived close to Vinod Khanna at Rajneeshpuram, has offered an insight into the life of the superstar and his rivalry with Amitabh Bachchan.

“I know what he was going through. People think that a successful man is successful in every way, but that’s not it. They might be going through a lot otherwise, and only they know about it,” he told Galatta India. Saraswati added that Khanna would “often cry” during his stay, and when Osho asked him why he was upset, he said that he missed his wife and kids- referring to Geetanjali, Khanna’s then-wife, and their sons, Akshaye and Rahul.

However, Osho didn’t believe Khanna and said that the real reason why he was so upset was because he was jealous of Amitabh Bachchan. After Vinod Khanna left showbiz, Amitabh Bachchan had a meteoric rise to fame. “Osho said he is not missing his wife and kids. After Vinod moved to the US, Vinod’s biggest competitor, Amitabh Bachchan has become an MP, and unconsciously, he is deeply jealous of him. Vinod is not aware of that,” he recalled.

Osho even recommended that Khanna return to India, join the opposition party and contest elections against Bachchan. “Vinod broke down after he learnt this, and said this wasn’t the case. He said, ‘I don’t care about politics, I only miss my family.’ Osho said, ‘No, this isn’t it, you are just talking about your emotions on the surface level. You are hiding pain, and I can see that. Your mind is superficial, and it is telling you that you miss your kids. You are just jealous of Bachchan. You should fight against him,” he said.

Eventually, Vinod Khanna did return to India in the late 1980s. However, Saraswati claimed that Khanna didn’t connect with his family, whom he missed so much. Instead, he fell in love with someone else. He resumed his film career with renewed focus, went on to star in several successful movies, and entered politics, serving as a Union Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. Ironically, while Khanna aligned with the BJP, Amitabh Bachchan maintained close ties with the Congress and the Gandhi family, making Osho’s political prediction oddly prescient.

Osho’s insight, Saraswati claimed, revealed the true wound Vinod was nursing. “Vinod’s conscious mind was trying to convince him he was a noble man who missed his family. But Osho said what he really missed was his position, his place at the top. He was envious of Bachchan, and that pain was manifesting in other ways,” Saraswati said in an earlier chat with Hindi Rush.

Vinod Khanna died in Mumbai at the age of 70, after battling advanced bladder cancer. Vinod Khanna was a legendary Bollywood actor and also a politician, known for his powerful screen presence in films like Amar Akbar Anthony, Mere Apne, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, and Dayavan, among many others.

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