Page 46 - Seniorstoday July-2023 Issue
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was the father of four children when her days were numbered, Kishore Kumar
he and Nargis fell in love. They worked married her, leaving his wife Ruma Guha
together for years, she is the one on the Thakutra, and they stayed together till she
famous RK logo with him, but at some died at the tragically young age of 36.
point, she wanted to get married. He was By the 1980s, Indian society was a little
unable or unwilling to leave his wife. The less conservative, still when Dharmendra
relationship was doomed to end. Then, a reportedly converted to Islam to to be
young co-star, Sunil Dutt, rescued Nargis able to marry Hema Malini, without
from a fire on the set of Mother India, divorcing his first wife and mother of four
and ended up marrying her. They had a children, Prakash, there was an uproar,
successful marriage till she died of cancer all the way up to Parliament. Somehow
many years later. the two weathered the storm, but they also
triggered off a spate of copycat marriages
that ignored legal requirements.
Rajesh Khanna was in a long-term
relationship with Anju Mahendru, when
he jilted her overnight to marry the
much younger Dimple Kapadia, who had
done just one film, Bobby, and gave up a
promising career to marry the superstar.
Even the gossip mags could not have made
up something so dramatic. The marriage
did not last, however, Khanna took up with
Tina Munim after her split with Sanjay
Dutt, and Dimple had a long affair with
Sunny Deol, which they never spoke about,
but never denied either.
Dilip Kumar and Madhubala
Dilip Kumar and Madhubala were madly
in love, in spite of her formidable father,
Ataullah Khan. Matters came to a head,
when she was cast as the female lead in BR
Chopra’s Naya Daur. A shooting schedule
had been fixed in Bhopal and her father
refused to let her travel. Chopra took her
to court, Dilip Kumar testified against
her, and she lost the case. In the end,
the film went on with Vyjayanthimala, The Amitabh Bachchan-Rekha romance
but Madhubala was left devastated. She was tabloid fodder for years. But he was
already had a heart condition and knowing married to Jaya Bhaduri and the father
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