During the Partition of India, the family had to leave all the land and property behind and move to India. When they came to Bombay, Kumar decided to try his luck in the Hindi film industry. He never wanted to be a hero and took up work with director H. S. Rawail as an assistant. For nearly five years, he worked with Rawail as an assistant in films like Patanga, Sagai, Pocketmaar.
During this time he made his film debut with a small role in Kidar Sharma's 1950 film Jogan, opposite Dilip Kumar and Nargis. But he had to wait for nine long years after his humble beginnings before he could power his own hits. He got a chance to blow his trumpet after Goonj Uthi Shehnai where he played the shehnai (an Indian wind instrument) with creditable verisimilitude. This Vijay Bhatt musical with tragic overtones and Vasant Desai's captivating compositions went on to become a hit.
1959 was a fortuitous year as Rajendra followed it up with the Meena Kumari in Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan and B R Chopra's Dhool Ka Phool.
After Rajendra had sportingly played the grey-shaded character of a man who ditches Mala Sinha to marry Nanda in Dhool Ka Phool, B R rewarded him with a memorable role as the crusading lawyer in his song less hit Kanoon [1960] next.
By now the hits were coming in an unceasing flow. The often-overwrought family melodramas like Sasuraal and Gharana [both 1961] were just what the doctor ordered for people who enjoyed a quiet weep.
Also in 1961 came the robust Aas Ka Panchi. which started two different but equally profitable partnerships --- with filmmaker Mohan Kumar (Ayee Milan Ki Bela, Aman, Anjana, Aap Aaye Bahar Ayee) and actress Vyjayanthimala (Sangam, Zindagi, Suraj, Saathi, Ganwaar).
Rajendra crystallized his martyr image with Dil Ek Mandir [1963], where he played a doctor who stakes his life to save the husband (Raaj Kumar) of her ex-love (Meena Kumari).
His lucky streak in the mid-1960s saw him embroiled in triangular romantic films with endless entanglements and starred either two heroes or two heroines. Case in point: Mere Mehboob (Sadhana, Ameeta), Ayee Milan Ki Bela (Saira, Dharmendra), Zindagi (Vyjayanthimala, Raaj Kumar), Arzoo (Sadhana, Feroz Khan) and of course the granddaddy of them all -- Sangam (Vyjayanthimala, Raj Kapoor).
The 1960s saw Kumar rise to stardom. There were times when he had six or seven films which had run for more than 25 weeks as a "silver jubilee film"), all running at the cinema at the same time, which rendered him the nickname "Jubilee Kumar”. He starred in many box office hits including Dhool Ka Phool (1959), Dil Ek Mandir (1963), Mere Mehboob (1963), Sangam (1964), Arzoo (1965), Suraj (1966), Talash and Ganwaar (1970). He received the Filmfare Nomination for Best Actor for Dil Ek Mandir (1963), Ayee Milan Ki Bela (1964), Arzoo (1965), and as Best Supporting Actor for Sangam (1964).
But just when he was at his zenith after Suraj, the sun began to slowly set on Rajendra's career. Whether it was Aman and Palki [1967], Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan and Saathi [1968] or Shatranj [1969], his films were disappointments.
He enjoyed a short-lived reprieve with the middle-level successes of Anjana [in late 1969], and Talash, Geet and Ganwaar [all 1970]. The early 1970s saw the 40-plus Rajendra squandering his talents in indifferent films (save for Gora Aur Kala opposite his fan, Hema Malini). Rajendra wisely switched to character roles, predominantly for Sawan Kumar Tak (Saajan Bina Suhagan, O Bewafa and Saajan Ki Saheli).
In the early 1980s, he successfully launched his son, Gaurav, in Love Story. However, even when Gaurav's career ran aground, Rajendra continued making films with him even when he lost a small fortune on films like Lovers and Phool.
On July 12, 1999, Rajendra Kumar, an ace at playing a doctor grappling with life-threatening diseases (Dil Ek Mandir, Saathi), finally succumbed to cancer.
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