Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt recalled his love story with first wife Lorraine Bright, aka Kiran Bhatt, whom he met when she was just 14. Bhatt himself was 16 at the time, and would slip love letters written in his own blood through a tailor. In a chat with their daughter, Pooja Bhatt, on her new podcast, Bhatt recalled that Lorraine lived in an orphanage as a child, and that he still takes care of her to this day despite having separated many years ago. In the interview, he also reflected on his infidelities, and her reaction to his second marriage, to Soni Razdan. Recalling their first meeting, he said, "I was 16, she was 14. She was living in an orphanage, because her mother did not have the means to keep her as a day scholar. One day, I saw this gorgeous girl standing with her friends at the gate of Bombay Scottish. There was something about her that drew me to her. But, somehow, love was preceded by the feeling of unworthiness. So, it took me a couple of evenings. So, I went up to her and introduced myself. I remember I offered her Milan Supari." Bhatt said that he was struck by her after their first conversation, after which they devised a plan to communicate with each other through a tailor. "He used to stitch school uniforms. Struck by her charm and beauty, I begged him to carry my letter to her. He expressed the hazards of doing that, because if he was caught, he would lose his job. But he was a generous man, so he took my letter and I waited for her reply. And then, she did! I wrote to her in blood and she also replied in blood." Also read - When Mahesh Bhatt said that his kids from first wife resented Soni Razdan: ‘She was the evil seductress who took their papa away’ Bhatt said that they first met in an empty classroom at the school, after Lorraine had bribed the watchman to keep the doors unlocked for him. Bhatt snuck in through a back door, and found himself face to face with Lorraine. It was getting dark, and Lorraine asked to see his face, so he lit a matchstick until it went out. "She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in my life," he said. But tragedy struck some time later, when Bhatt got caught. "All hell broke loose, and the tailor lost his job, and Lorraine was thrown out of school," he said. Lorraine's mother was angry, but Bhatt assured her that he would find her new lodging. He forged his father's signature and found her a place to stay at the YWCA. Eventually, Lorraine learned skills through which she found a job as a receptionist and a telephone operator. "I really believed in fairytale love, but then I fell into a relationship with Parveen Babi," he said. He recalled the moment he told Lorraine about the affair, and said that Pooja was asleep at the time. He looked at himself in the mirror and thought, "All your life you hated your father for keeping your mother as the other woman. What have you done?" His fairytale romance, he said, "was reduced to ashes." Bhatt went on to separate from Lorraine, and married Soni Razdan after his relationship with Parveen Babi ended. Lorraine gave them her blessing. The first phone call that Bhatt made after his and Soni's daughter Shaheen was born was to Lorraine. Pooja recalled, "When they questioned the legitimacy of your marriage, and they said, 'Who gave permission?' And I'll never forget, my mother got up and said, 'Who gave permission? I gave permission. He has my blessing'." Praising her father for continuing to look after her mother, she said, "I've met very few men who, once they hold a woman's hand, they never let go. The nature of the love might change, but the love doesn't go away. Today, you are more like a parent. She knows that, no matter what, she can rely on you. You have never made her feel that you are stretching yourself by providing. People remind each other about how much they're doing; providing a home, sending money. But I've watched you. When you said to my grandmother that you will look after her, you still look after her." In the same interview, Bhatt wept as he recalled Pooja's reaction to when she found out that he had had an affair with Soni. She said, “I saw you sitting at the edge of my bed and telling me about the woman that you have met, Soni, and the fact that you’re going to be marrying her and move out. I was just privileged to be treated as an equal because you told me this before you even told my mother.”
