New Delhi:
Rajesh Khanna is not only known for his brilliant films, but is also in the news for his personal life. Stories of his love affairs were in the news in those days. He was in a live-in relationship with Anju Mahendru, but he surprised his fans by marrying Dimple Kapadia. Rajesh Khanna and Anju Mahendru were lovers in the 80s and people thought that both would live together. But their relationship broke down.
Let us tell you that on December 29, 1942, Rajesh Khanna was born as Jatin Khanna in Amritsar. He debuted in the Hindi film Aakhri Khat in 1966 at the age of 24. After this film, Rajesh Khanna started getting offers in films. After many flops and some hit films, his superhit film was Haathi Mere Saathi in 1971. It became one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of that decade. After this he did not look back.
Whereas Anju Mahendru was working as an actress, model and fashion designer. When Anju was struggling, Rajesh Khanna was a superstar. There is not much information about how the two met, but their love story became quite famous. In the initial years of their relationship, both of them supported each other from within. It is said that Anju was a dedicated girlfriend and was in a live-in relationship with Rajesh Khanna for 7 long periods from 1966 to 1972.
Their relationship changed after 1971, when Anju was rumored to be dating West Indian cricketer Gary Sobers.
This made Rajesh Khanna very angry. It is said that Rajesh Khanna’s decision to marry Anju changed after this. Anju’s mother wanted Rajesh Khanna to marry her daughter soon, Rajesh Khanna also wanted the same. But due to Anju’s continuous refusal to marry, Rajesh broke relations with her in 1972. In one of her interviews, Anju had confessed that Rajesh Khanna’s different and constantly changing views had created a lot of sourness in their relationship.
Anju had said, “He is a very conservative man, yet somehow, he is always attracted towards modern girls. Confusion was a part of our relationship. If I wore a skirt, he would fret, ‘Why don’t you wear a saree?’ ?If I wore a saree, he would say, why are you showing the look of an Indian woman? In another interview with Stardust, Anju had said that before 1969, Rajesh’s flop films had made her mentally weak due to which there were many arguments between the two, it was becoming increasingly difficult to get along with Rajesh. He was moody, irritable, and very stressed all the time.
Rajesh Khanna had said in an interview that no matter how much he tries to find time for Anju, she will always be busy. Often after a hard day at the studio, I would return home and find a note saying that she had gone to a party. It is said that when Rajesh Khanna married Dimple, he took out his wedding procession in front of his ex-girlfriend Anju’s house. After his marriage with Dimple Kapadia, he had two daughters, Twinkle Khanna and Rinke Khanna.
Later, in an interview given to Stardust, Anju recalled meeting Dimple Kapadia for the first time and said that Dimple had then called Rajesh Khanna as ‘Uncle’ and her as ‘Aunty’, but later her attitude changed. She pretended to be innocent, but she used to taunt me behind my back. ‘Dimple Kapadia was coming closer to Rajesh and it was being discussed everywhere. Then Rajesh threw a party and asked Anju to invite the guests. Anju invited everyone except Dimple. This made Rajesh very angry and he called Dimple to the party to apologize. After this there was a rift between Dimple and Anju. Dimple taunted her and asked if she could come inside. Anju said, ‘I also lost my temper and told him, ‘If you have been invited then definitely, if not then please go back.’ After this she separated from Rajesh’s life and Dimple married him. At that time Dimple was only 15 years old. Half the age of Rajesh.