Veteran actress Vijayta Pandit, known for her blockbuster debut in the 1981 film Love Story, has recently opened up about the tragic end to both her short-lived film career and her romance with co-star Kumar Gaurav. In a candid interaction, Vijayta accused late legendary actor Rajendra Kumar, Kumar Gaurav's father, of actively sabotaging her professional life and "brainwashing" his son into a high-profile marriage.
Vijayta, sister to Sulakshana Pandit and the music composer duo Jatin-Lalit, and Kumar Gaurav became overnight stars following the success of Love Story. The on-screen romance quickly translated into a real-life relationship, but the happiness was short-lived.
"My life became a tragedy after Kumar Gaurav came into my life," Vijayta shared. "My whole life was finished after that. His father didn't let me work with him. My career was over. I was like a handicap person. What could I have done? I had also loved him."
The actress claims that despite her being a part of a hit pairing with Kumar Gaurav (lovingly called Bunty by his family and friends), Rajendra Kumar used his influence to remove her from future projects.
"I was cast in every film opposite Kumar Gaurav," she recalled. "But Rajendra Kumar asked the producer, ‘Pehle Vijayta ko hatao fir Bunty (Kumar Gaurav) kaam karega (Remove Vijayta from the project and only then Bunty will star in it).’ He got me removed from every film. It broke my heart and I said ‘leave it, I won’t work’."
Vijayta firmly believes that Rajendra Kumar’s disapproval was rooted in money and status. She called him "money-minded," stating that he felt she wasn't "rich enough" for his son. In an earlier interview, she elaborated: "I don't think he suffered. We both were in love and his family was against it. They wanted to move Bunty's focus from me... They thought she was better than Vijayta. The family pressurized him so much that eventually Namrata and Bunty came close. They thought she was Sunil Dutt's daughter and was wealthy, so she was a better option for Kumar Gaurav."
Beyond her career, the shock of betrayal in her personal life left her family devastated. Vijayta recounted how Kumar Gaurav, after promising marriage and making her wait for years, married Sanjay Dutt’s sister, Namrata Dutt, without informing her.
"It was Kumar Gaurav, who said I love you first. I didn't pursue him. He used to come to my home to meet me. He became like family to me and he wanted to marry me," she explained. "He promised marriage to me and made me wait for so many years and then married somebody else. I didn’t know how he took this drastic step."
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Vijayta claims she was completely blindsided by the wedding news. "I think his family brainwashed him and made him marry Namrata Dutt. I got the news that he’s getting married, and I had just spoken to him 3 days ago, and he had told me ‘I love you’, but then I found out that he’s getting married. Imagine what would be my situation? He didn’t even give me a hint that he is in talks to get married to Namrata."
The sudden turn of events also devastated her family. "My parents were in shock. This was a big jolt to my family. My mother fainted in shock. Nobody could believe that that boy could do this to me because he would visit me regularly at home," she said.
Vijayta’s debut was a triumph, but her subsequent departure from the limelight, as she claims, was a direct consequence of the powerful opposition from Rajendra Kumar, making her love story with Kumar Gaurav an ill-fated chapter in Bollywood history.
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