Late Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna’s love life was always in the spotlight, especially his famously stormy relationship with actress Anju Mahendru. Their on-and-off romance started long before his marriage to Dimple Kapadia and later involvement with Tina Munim, yet continued to make headlines for decades. In a 1987 Screen magazine article, all three women – Anju, Dimple and Tina – spoke openly, along with Khanna himself, who gave his side of the story.A love full of contradictionsAnju Mahendru once said about Rajesh Khanna, “Basically he is a very orthodox man, yet somehow he always gets attracted to ultra modern girls. I know it’s a contradiction, but then Rajesh Khanna is like that.” This contradiction was clear in how he reacted to Anju’s clothes. She shared, “If I wore a skirt, he’d snap, why don’t you wear a saree? If I wore a saree, he’d wrinkle his nose and say, ‘Why are you trying to project a Bhartiya nari look?’”Honesty that hurtAnother reason the relationship suffered was Anju’s honesty. Khanna would often show her early clips of his films, hoping for a bit of praise. But Anju, known for being upfront, didn’t hold back if she didn’t like what she saw. “I was critical because that’s how I am. If he was bad, I always said so. Why should I have praised him just to keep him happy? There were plenty around to boost his ego. He has always been sensitive to criticism and I’ve always been very frank,” she said.Khanna, who was used to being adored by the public and those around him, found this hard to handle. “I didn’t expect praise. All I wanted was a nod of approval… A gesture that reassured. But she was always ruthlessly critical,” he admitted.A new chapter with Dimple KapadiaAfter breaking up with Anju, Khanna married actress Dimple Kapadia in 1973, just months before her debut film ‘Bobby’ hit the screens and made her an overnight star. The couple quickly became one of Bollywood’s most talked-about pairs. They had two daughters – Twinkle Khanna, who later became an actress and author, and Rinke Khanna, also an actress for a brief period.Though Khanna and Dimple separated in the 1980s, they never officially divorced. Dimple moved out but remained a steady presence in his life, especially in his final years. She stood by him during his illness, and the family in his last days.
