Rajesh Khanna, affectionately known as Kaka, was one of the most popular stars of his time and is often described by many of his generation as the first superstar who had fans around his little finger. But long before he achieved stardom, Rajesh was known as Jatin, and He was in love with another aspiring actor, Anju Mahendru. Rajesh and Anju met while working together in theater and before they knew it, they developed a romantic relationship. Like many volatile relationships, theirs went through ups and downs, but its abrupt end came when Rajesh decided to marry Dimple Kapadia, who was half his age. To rub salt in Anju’s wounds, Rajesh made sure that his wedding cheap crossed Anju’s house, as if he wanted to show her that he had successfully moved on. But things were not as simple as they seemed when Anju was asked to give up her career to take care of Kaka. He, on the other hand, started his relationship with Dimple, while he was still dating Anju.
Anju and Rajesh were fighting at the same time and in fact, she had appeared in a few small roles in films before him, the most notable being Dev Anand’s Jewel Thief. At that time, Rajesh Khanna appeared in a talent show, finally won and was waiting for his big break. The two were there for each other and supported each other in their struggles. Since they knew each other before they became famous, she affectionately called him Justin and he addressed her as Nikki.
Rajesh Khanna and Anju Mahendru in Bandhan. (Photo: Express Archives)
Rajesh Khanna’s mother did not like Anju Mahendru
Rajesh was at the peak of stardom when he worked with Anju in a film called Bandhan. While the two were a couple in real life, here Rajesh starred opposite Mumtaz. Since Rajesh and Anju’s relationship always went through major ups and downs, Bandhan’s ensemble was no different. He later told Bhawana Somaya in an interview: “We both had a fight over something as a result of which we both behaved extremely unprofessionally while filming together. Every time I said my lines, she looked in the opposite direction, and every time she said her dialogues, I looked away. This continued throughout the show and the annoying producer was completely confused as to what was happening and why. Neither were we, frankly. Because, if we had, we wouldn’t have behaved so Juvenile I know: “It all sounds silly, but you can’t disassociate an incident from your life just because it was silly or childish.” It almost seems like the two of them had no idea about the business or the economics of the business, as they were completely consumed by their relationship. At that point, the two had been together for five years, but their relationship was still going through its initial phase.
After achieving some success, Rajesh bought his Aashirvaad bungalow and although Anju did not move in with him, she was a constant presence in the house. So much so that her staff believed that she would eventually marry him and become his ‘memsaab’. In Yasser Usman’s Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India’s First Superstar, Prashant Roy, a member of his staff, shared, “Anju Memsaab used to take care of the entire bungalow. If there was any party or function, it used to be under her supervision. Although Chaaiji (Rajesh’s mother) was not too fond of her. She was very modern… All of us in Aashirwad thought that sooner or later Kakaji would marry her and “she would be our boss.” But this is not happened, as their relationship fell apart in the following years.
When Anju Mahendru got engaged to Garry Sobers in the middle of a relationship with Rajesh Khanna. (Photo: Express Archives)
Anju Mahendru got engaged to a cricketer during her on-off relationship with Rajesh Khanna.
At one point, their on-off relationship reached a point where Anju became engaged to cricketer Gary Sobers. “To tell the truth, at that time I was in a relationship with Kaka. We had a fight over something and then I had an affair with Gary. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t like Gary Sobers. I don’t know what would have happened if Rajesh Khanna had not come back into my life. I called Gary from Kaka’s house and broke off the engagement,” she told The Times of India many years later. During this phase, by her own admission, Rajesh had become “suspicious” of Anju and would want to track her whereabouts at all hours.
“All he wanted me to do was wait, wait, wait for him,” she later told Stardust, adding that he didn’t like his friends always being around her and demanding their privacy. “He said there was never any privacy for us. What about his men who were always hanging around when I went to meet him? I very often argued with him that I didn’t like his chamchas, that at least when I approached him, he could have the courtesy of keeping them away. But no, they were always there. I needed them,” she said in the same chat.
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Rajesh Khanna demanded Anju Mahendru to ‘sacrifice’ her career
While all this was happening, Kaka was delivering back-to-back hits in theaters and Anju’s career was yet to take off in movies, but she was doing surprisingly well as a model. Rajesh wanted her to give up her career when she was paid very well. In the 1973 Stardust interview, Anju accused Rajesh of sabotaging her career and said that she did not want his films to be released so that she could dedicate herself to him and not be distracted by her career. And since he had enough power in the industry, she believed that he could do it successfully. Rajesh, who wanted a “housewife” as a companion, admitted in the same chat that he wanted a “non-working wife” and questioned his career. “What career did she sacrifice for me? Those small-time roles like (in) Jewel Thief? Where would those lost roles have taken her?” said.
Anju believed that Rajesh wanted her to “care about him” like his fans and realized that as he became more successful, it became “more and more difficult.” In fact, his position in the industry was such that Anju considered him a “nervous wreck.” Rajesh believed that she was “never there” when he needed her support and, in a later chat with Bunny Reuben, he recalled the incident that marked the end of their relationship. “A love story always breaks first within the heart. The breakup between Anju and I dates back to a fateful night when I was depressed. I saw her leaving my house with the intention of having a good time at that party. I think it was at that moment that my love also abandoned her,” he said.
Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia married in 1973. (Photo: Express Archives)
Dimple Kapdia addressed Rajesh Khanna as ‘uncle’
It was during this time that Dimple entered Rajesh’s life and Anju recalled how Dimple first referred to her as Anju’s aunt and him as Rajesh’s uncle, but everything changed as soon as their relationship began. She told Stardust: “Dimple is a smart girl. When Rajesh and I first met her, we were Rajesh’s ‘uncle’ and Anju’s ‘aunt’ to her. She was kind then. Lately I noticed a change in her. She was always saying things that seemed innocent, but were very calculatedly malicious and directed at me.”
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According to Yasser’s book, Anju once had a clue that Rajesh was throwing a party for Dimple in Khandala and wanted to catch him red-handed, but his staff tipped her off and she returned with no evidence to prove her suspicions. However, Anju decided to break up with him once again and returned his personal belongings. Rajesh saw this as an “insult to my dignity.” However, in a talk in 1991, when enough time had passed, Rajesh said that the breakup was no one’s fault and that they should have had a civil conversation about it, which they didn’t.
Rajesh Khanna’s wedding baraat crossed Anju Mahendru’s house
So when Rajesh decided to marry Dimple in 1973, his peers and fans were shocked. Rajesh was probably still recovering from his failed relationship with Anju and in a bid to show that he had moved on, he ordered his wedding baraat through Anju’s house.
Years later, when Rajesh and Dimple broke up, Rajesh extended an olive branch to Anju and the two became friends after 17 years of being apart. She told Bhawana Somaya, “When we spoke for the first time after almost 17 years, I admit that we both felt a little awkward. I didn’t call him Jatin like I used to in the past and he didn’t call me Nikki. I didn’t call him Kaka either. It would have been too cinematic,” she said.
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Rajesh Khanna and Anju Mahendru never rekindled their romantic relationship, but she was by his side, along with his wife Dimple and their daughters, when he died in 2012 at age 69. Anju never married.