KYAA SHAADI KE PAVITRA RISHTHE KO KISI KI  BOORI NAZAR LAG GAYI HAI?

I consider the institution of marriage to be one of the most scared institutions created by God or whoever creates relationships - Ali Peter John

There have been hiccups and serious obstacles in the way of this relationship from time to time and especially in so called high class societies and the flim industry to which I have given fifty of the best years of my life.

What happened between the Mr. Perfectionist Aamir Khan and his fifteen year old marriage with Kiran Rao created some kind of a sensation, which was expected.

Talks, rumours and gossip about Aamir and Kiran going their own ways after telling the world how much they were in love with when they met each other when Aamir was making LAAGAN and Kiran was a young and enthusiastic assistant of director Ashutosh Gowariker.

It was a case of friendship leading to love or so they said. And they got married at a private ceremony on Aamir's farm house and the ritual according to which they got married allowed them to follow their own religion and Aamir followed Islam and Kiran followed Hinduism , but neither of them were hardened followers of any religion.

They had a son who they gave an idealistic name like Azaad and their four year old son is now known as Aazad Rao Khan .

The name may sound very unique , especially in these times when every name from , Ram and Rahim are screaming from their roof tops about secularism. But what about the future of Azaad Rao Khan ?

I too have a what is called a complicated name like Ali Peter John, with parents who were of two different religions, but after living for seventy-one years in independent and secular India , i can now confess about the hardships, humiliation and heart breaks about having a name which enlightened people can debate about endlessly.

I once almost got lynched during the 93 riots in Bombay because of my name. And my problems with my name have still not ended yet.

It is easy for Aamir and Kiran to say that they will live separately and not continue to be husband and wife.

It is also easy for them to say that one of them ( Aamir) will take care of the education and the bringing up of Aazad, but they will know how difficult it is going to be when it comes to the realities of life.

It is also easy to say that they would work together on all the projects they were already working on and to say that they would continue to make flims together.

I have been trying to understand this kind of a relationship and even after two sleepless nights, i have not found any answer.

In the meanwhile, the social media has found a new and juicy story to debate on and speculate about and create more noise than they are already making.

Aamir is shooting for his new flim " LAAL SINGH CHADDA" in Ladakh and has not reacted to the story going viral and Kiran is living in her own house with her son Aazad .

How will this story proceed and end ? That is a billion rupee question. Talking about Aamir , reminds me and will remind many about how Aamir divorced his first wife Reena Dutta during the making of Lagaan and had left her with their two children Ira and Junaid.

Reena and Aamir are still "good friends" and meet often to discuss the progress made by their children and then they both go their own homes.

What kind of a relationship is this ? This is not my question, this is a question being asked by millions of Indians and especially by Aamir 's fans all over the world.

The sensation created by the announcement of Aamir and Kiran has led me to recalling other recent and past stories about lovers getting married and then breaking up for reasons only they know .

The first seperation happened when the well known filmmaker Chetan Anand who had married his actress -wife Uma Anand had left Uma due to creative differences . It happened in 1953 when the Divorce Act had still to come into practice in the country.

The first story of a break up I can remember if the one between the well known film maker Sultan Ahmed who divorced his first wife ,the actress Shammi , then married the wife of a friend and finally married a young woman who he gave the opportunity to produce flims under his banner.

And the other prominent break up was the one between Vinod Khanna and his first wife , Geetanjali , the mother of his sons Akshaye and Rahul .

He then married the daughter of a leading industrialist and had two daughters from her , till he went away to join his Bhagwan Rajnish in Oregon. And life was not easy for him again till he finally died of cancer.

The other" break up specialist "was Mahesh Bhatt . He was first married to Kiran who was the mother of Pooja Bhatt and Rahul Bhatt.

Mahesh fell in love with the actress of his flim "SAARANSH" , Soni Razdan and they both got converted to Islam to get married and Alia Bhatt and Muskaan are their two daughters.

The most shocking break up was between Hrithik Roshan and Suzanne who were childhood lovers.

They had to fight a bitter battle in the Family Court in Mumbai and the Court granted them a divorce after fourteen years of marriage, and the court said that their sons Hridhaan and Hrehaan could live with either of their parents.

It was very moving to see how Hrithik and Suzanne came together again during the first wave of lockdown in the interest of their sons .

There is the interesting case of well known director Vidhu Vinod Chopra who first married his editor, Renu Saluja and when Renu died, he married a young flim maker called Shabnam Sukhdev, this marriage broke down and Vidhu married a young journalist called Anupama .

Vidhu is now left with Anupama. And it was sometimes very interesting to see Vidhu at a screaming or a party with all
his wives together.

Some months ago , it was Arjun Rampal in the news .He was married to a popular model , Meher Jessia .

They had two daughters, life seemed to be good till Arjun found a lover in a South African journalist and his marriage with Meher is on the rocks .

Arbaaz Khan had married Malaika Arora , the actress who revelled in controversies. And she added one more controversy to her list when she started a live in relationship with Arjun Kapoor who was many years younger than her. The lovers are still going strong, Lekin kal kya hoga koi kya jaane ?

And if there is the very popular story of a break up, it is the one between Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh.

They had two children, Sara Ali Khan and Ibrahim Ali Khan . But the Chothe Nawab gave up everything to marry the beautiful Kareena Kapoor who is now the Begum of Pataudi .

He is now the father of Taimur Ali Khan who the media has made a star even before he can know how to walk. Saif and Kareean now have a second child, but Kareena is still one of the most wanted , popular and highest paid actress.

The list can go on and on because one can never say what happens when in a relationship like marriage which unfortunately is being given a bad name by men and women who have neither the time nor the inclination to know about the sanctity of marriage is .

Have we forgotten our parampara, sankaars, and values ? Such break ups are very common in countries like America and the U.K but should they become a way of life in Bharat which has a history of million of years .

As I finish this piece on a very sensitive issue, I am tempted to share a story about DR. K M MUNSHI who was one of those who drafted the Constitution of India and a founder of Bhavan's whose product i am .

He had gone for a convocation function in New York with his wife, Mrs. Lilawati Munshi . The audience asked Dr.Munshi how long he was married to Mrs. Munshi and Dr.Munshi didn't take a second to say that they were married for 65 years . And the entire audience stood up and asked "Dr.Munshi", 65 years and to the same woman !

EK WOH ZAAMANA THA JAB SHAADI PUJA JAISE HOTI THI, AAJ YEH ZAAMANA HAI JAB AAJ SHAADI HOTI HAI AUR AGLE DIN PATI PATNI MEIN JHAGDA HO JATA HAI AUR SHAADI KE RASAM KI AISI KI TAISI HO JAATI HAI .

KYA YEH WOH BHARAT HAI JAHAN HUM AAGE BADHTE BHI JA RAHE HAI AUR PICHE BHI JA RAHE HAI? PHIR BHI DIL HAI HINDUSTANI.