Pehle chori chori phir khullam khulla!

Forty years later, love, children and faith keep these marriages together

Meena Iyer

On May 2, 1980, one of Indian cinema’s iconic screen couples—Dharmendra and Hema Malini, secretly married. When the dream girl and her garam-Dharam settled for “holy” matrimony, they didn’t spare a thought for the bigamy laws of the country. Dharam was a married man, he also had four children from his first marriage to Prakash Kaur. This celebrity couple, whom society and audiences love and respect, became trendsetters. The dream girl and her garam pati actually made eloping fashionable. Six years later in 1986, Tinseltown saw a plethora of secret nuptials.

Jilted in love, Vijayta secretly married Sameer

Cast-aside by her Love Story (1981) co-star, Kumar Gaurav, the jilted Vijayta Pandit, who cried buckets, married director Sameer Malkan almost overnight. The hush-hush affair happened at the ISKCON Temple, Juhu, Mumbai, in accordance to Hindu rites. Both Sameer and Vijayta were consenting adults yet the Pandits didn’t like this secret marriage. Older sisters, Sulakshna and Raashi ran to the nearby beach to drown themselves. Of course, no ‘suicide’ was registered because when the sisters cooled off, they went home, tails between their legs.

Zarina chose a much younger Aditya as her groom

They had a secret nikaah because Aditya Pancholi, who was under contract with a production house, was asked by his producers not to get into any serious relationship/marriage till his debut. However, that was not to be. The cat was out of the bag and before you knew it, Zarina Wahab and Aditya were seen having cozy, candlelit dinners in high-profile restaurants. Forty years later, Zee (Zarina) still loves Nirmal (Aditya). She is also the best mother to her two children, actor Sooraj Pancholi and daughter, Sana.  

Mahesh followed in his parents’ footsteps

Mahesh Bhatt was born to a Hindu father, filmmaker, Nanabhai Bhatt and a Shia-Muslim mother, Shirin Mohammad Ali. When he fell in love with Soni Razdan, knowing very well that there was wife No.1, Kiran still holding court and his two children from the first marriage-Pooja and Rahul, he followed in his parents’ footsteps. It is a documented-media report that he chose to be Ashraf Bhatt and Soni became Sakina Banoo to enter into matrimony. Four decades later, they are proud parents to their well-groomed, celebrity daughters, Shaheen and Alia. Not to forget doting grandparents to Bollywood’s most-adorable moppet, Raha.

This Chennai producer felt having two biwis was fine

Another married man, Chennai-based producer, Srikant Nahata, entertained us at home with his beautiful wife, Chanda. But he also confessed he was smitten by actress Jaya Prada (equally beautiful). Divorce be damned, this couple took saat pheras around the agni in front of Jaya’s family. Years later, they got estranged and Jaya plunged into politics.

Padmini married Tutu in a secret midnight ceremony

It was a crazy mix of peaked-romance, parental opposition and reported political intervention (which the senior Kolhapures allegedly sought) that forced Padmini Kolhapure, one of the biggest heroines of the 1980s, to elope and marry producer, Pradeep (Tutu) Sharma in a midnight ceremony at another producer’s home.  Padmini and Tutu still stay committed to their marriage and their son, Priyaank Sharma. When he chose to have a love marriage to Karim Morani’s daughter, Shaza Morani, Pandi and Tutu gave them their blessings without a fuss.  

Bad man Ranjeet secretly-married Aaloka 

The biggest baddie of the 1980s, Ranjeet aka Goli, had a failed marriage when his wife Pushpa walked out on him. Since neither he nor Pushpa went to court seeking action, he married his girlfriend of five years Aaloka in a secret ceremony. Today, they are one of the most-settled couples in B-Town and proud parents to children, Divyanka and Chiranjeev.

Moral of the story

Those who united in secrecy settled well when their marriages went public. After all, in most cases, it was love that brought them together.