Great Indian Love Stories

Raj Kapoor -- Nargis 

The scene in Bobby when Rishi Kapoor first sets eyes on Dimple (with flour on her hair) is supposed to echo Raj Kapoor's first meeting with Nargis' his favourite heroine. Together they made 16 films' including Andaz' Barsaat' Chori Chori and Shree 420' among others' and made the screen sizzle with their intense physicality. But the affair didn't go a long way in real life. Raj was married to Krishna' with five kids' and opted to remain so. Nargis married her Mother India co-star Sunil Dutt'to create another abiding love story of independent India.






Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru-- Lady Edwina Mountbatten 

This was a menage a trois straight out of Truffaut's Jules et Jim' but minus the angst and the heartbreak. Lord Mountbatten apparently accepted his wife's relationship with Nehru' making them a rather unusual 'happy threesome'. Her daughter Pamela Mountbatten's recent declaration that the relationship was a platonic one won't stem a flood of speculation that has lasted half a century



MGR-- Jayalalitha 


The media called her his mistress' but Jayalalitha has always called mgr her mentor. He handpicked her for films when she was just 16' and he 42' and also groomed her for politics. He is known to have kept her in his grip' even kept tabs on her films. It helped Jayalalitha take off' providing her support and protection in the male-dominated Tamil film industry.




Dharmendra-- Hema Malini

Bollywood's Dream Girl and Punjab da puttar formed one of the most successful screen pairs ever' delivering hits like Charas' Jugnu' Seeta Aur Geeta and Sholay. The on-screen romance spilt over into real life. Dharmendra was already married. Hema had stars Sanjeev Kumar and Jeetendra among her suitors. Eventually they did marry' when Dharmendra converted to Islam.



Sonia Gandhi-- Rajiv Gandhi

It was a love affair that cut across nationalities'she from Italy' he from India. They met as students in England in 1964' fell in love and were married in 1969. For a long while they lived away from the public glare'he an airline pilot' she a housewife. When he joined politics' she was beside him'reluctantly. When he was assassinated' she stayed on to lay claim to the Nehru-Gandhi legacy.



Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi -- Sharmila Tagore


The debonair India cricket captain first met the glamorous film star at a shoot in 1965. He is said to have wooed the Bengali beauty with roses'and an imported refrigerator. After overcoming objections from their families' they married on December 27' 1969. The perfect match between royalty and movie star is still going strong.




R.D. Burman-- Asha Bhonsle


It was an unusual older woman-younger man romance. Asha Bhonsle first met Rahul Dev Burman when she was a mother of two and he a 10th grade drop-out. Their first success together was Teesri Manzil in 1966. She used to call him 'Bubs' and married him in 1980. Their partnership has lasted beyond his death' with Asha still singing his hits



Sanjay Gandhi-- Maneka Gandhi


She was a beauty queen and a Bombay Dyeing model. He was' supposedly' India's most eligible bachelor. After Sanjay's death ended their tumultuous marriage' she decided to enter politics. This led to a falling out with ma-in-law Indira Gandhi' amid a public airing of Dear Mummy letters.



Javed Akhtar-- Shabana Azmi 

One can call them Bollywood's most cerebral couple. Shabana has said recently how her marriage with Javed is like an arranged match'between people with a common intellectual-activist background and shared interests. But the alliance happened in the autumn of their lives. Shabana jokes that the secret of their long-lasting marriage is that they're never together.



Amitabh Bachchan-- Rekha

He was Bollywood's biggest star' married to his sweetheart. She was the sex symbol of the times. In the '80s' the Amitabh-Rekha romance was the biggest buzz in Bollywood. It even inspired Yash Chopra's Silsila' in which real-life characters played the reel roles. In Silsila the wife emerged triumphant. Likewise' Amitabh went to Jaya for comfort after his traumatic accident on the sets of Coolie.




Mohammed Azharuddin-- Sangeeta Bijlani 

Like Pataudi' another India captain' Mohammed Azharuddin' met model-actress Sangeeta Bijlani during the shooting of a commercial. Unlike Tiger' Azhar was married. He divorced his wife and married the former Miss India in the glare of public scrutiny. Their sticking with each other' in the face of crises like the match-fixing scandal' has given dignity to a once-reviled relationship.