Raj Kapoor, the iconic actor-filmmaker often hailed as the ‘Showman of the Millennium,’ carved a lasting legacy in the world of Indian cinema with his unforgettable films. However, his personal life also attracted significant media attention over the years, largely due to his extramarital affairs that often became the subject of public discussion. Among the most talked-about of these affairs was his relationship with actress Vyjayanthimala, a romance that Rishi Kapoor, Raj Kapoor's son, vividly recalls in his memoir Khullam Khulla.
In his memoir, Rishi Kapoor opens up about his childhood and how he witnessed the fallout from his father’s affair with Vyjayanthimala. While Raj Kapoor's affair with Nargis was something that the young Rishi was too young to process, the affair with Vyjayanthimala had a more lasting impact on his family life.
Rishi writes, “I was very young when my father had an affair with Nargis Ji, and so was not affected by it. I don’t remember feeling anything was amiss at home either. But I do remember moving into the Natraj Hotel on Marine Drive with my mom during the time Papa was involved with Vyjayanthimala.” This period in Rishi's life was marked by a series of emotional upheavals, as his mother, Krishna Raj Kapoor, decided to take a firm stand against her husband's infidelity.
In his memoir, Rishi recalls how his mother packed up and moved with her children to a hotel, and later to an apartment in Chitrakoot. “My mother had decided to put her foot down this time. From the hotel, we shifted for two months into an apartment in Chitrakoot. My father had bought the apartment for Mom and us. He did all he could to woo her back, but my mother didn’t give in until he had ended that chapter of his life.”
Years later, when Vyjayanthimala was asked about the affair in an interview, she denied its existence. She claimed that the romance with Raj Kapoor was merely a concoction of his desire for publicity. Her statement was a direct affront to the truth, and it deeply angered Rishi Kapoor. “In an interview published a few years ago, Vyjayanthimala denied ever having an affair with my father. She claimed that he had manufactured the romance because of his hunger for publicity. I was livid. How could she be so blasé; and pretend the affair never happened?”
Rishi’s emotions were raw, and the sense of betrayal was palpable. He added, “She had no right to distort facts just because he was no longer around to defend the truth.”
However, over time, Rishi’s anger began to subside. Reflecting on the incident years later, he admitted that he had come to terms with the fact that people often overlook uncomfortable truths, sometimes for their own reasons. “With time though, my anger has ebbed. I’ve come to accept that people tend to gloss over uncomfortable facts for reasons of their own.” Despite this more measured perspective, Rishi was still unwavering in his belief about the truth of the affair. He added, “But I can say with absolute certainty that if Papa had been alive, she wouldn’t have denied the affair so blatantly or called him publicity hungry.”
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