Page 45 - Seniorstoday July-2023 Issue

too many movie publications, so he had a did return to do one film many years later,
kind of unchallenged power. He was also
known to play favourites and also be extra
snide to those he did not favour. A rumour
flew around the industry that Shanta Apte,
the actress known as “stormy petrel” was
displeased by something Patel had written,
barged into his office and hit him with a
cane. Another nasty version of this story
was that she chased him around his table
with a chappal. Patel, of course, denied the
incident; according to him, Apte demanded
an apology for something he had written,
he refused and she walked off in a huff.
Whatever happened, it was supposedly the
talk of the town for weeks.
Dilip Kumar had a long and happy
marriage with Saira Banu, but was
rumoured to have had a few romances
before that (and one affair after, that was
much gossiped about). In the early days of
his career, he was reported to have fallen
in love with Kamini Kaushal, who was
already married, hence the scandal. Her
brother, a military man, had allegedly
stormed on to a set where the two were
shooting, and threatened to kill them if
they did not end the affair. They broke up
after that incident, and it was said that a
heartbroken Dilip Kumar got his ‘tragedy
king’ image after that.
At a time when divorces were unheard
of, Nalini Jaywant left her first husband,
film director Virendra Desai. His control
of her career was reportedly the cause of
the rift; since he had left his wife to marry
her, for some time, both of them had to face
some kind of boycott. It was probably her
popularity and the success of her films
that allowed her to rise over this personal
crisis as well as gossip of her affair with
Ashok Kumar. She later married actor
Prabhu Dayal and retired from films. She
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #49 | JULY 2023
before giving up totally, and died a recluse.
Usha Kiran and Amiya Chakraborty
Unusually bold for the times, Usha Kiran
did not hide or deny her love for director
Amiya Chakraborty, and since he was
16 years her senior and already married,
it was quite a scandal. It was reported
that Chakraborty’s wife met Usha Kiran
and offered to step out of her husband’s
way if that was what he wanted. Jolted
by the encounter, the actress ended
the relationship. Later she married Dr
Manohar Kher and had, from all accounts, a
happy married life.
Dev Anand fell in love with co-star
Suraiya, which her strict grandmother,
Badshah Begum, frowned upon, because of
the obvious religious differences. They had
to meet in secret and planned to elope to get
married, but the grandmother succeeded
in her plot to separate them. On the advice
of his older brother Chetan Anand, Dev
decided to concentrate on his career and
end the difficult romantic drama after
a tearful farewell. He went on to marry
Kalpana Kartik, and had a few affairs on
the side, but Suraiya quit films and stayed
single till the end of her life.
Raj Kapoor was married to Raji and
45