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Those who follow the events of the Hindi film industry are well aware of this term called ‘comeback’, which is used for an actor returning to the movies after a long sabbatical. This ‘comeback’ is often used as a strategy by the publicists of the film and we are made to believe that the film is a ‘must-watch’ because an actor is making their prized ‘comeback’. Until a few years ago, female actors made their ‘comeback’ after a few years of marriage and welcoming their children, and while the world celebrated that they were back doing their old job, no one questioned the fundamental flaws of our excessively patriarchal society that required them to stay at home in the first place. For female actors, this idea is starting to become a thing of the past now but for Dimple Kapadia, who could have been the biggest star in the 1970s, this ‘comeback’ with Ramesh Sippy’s Saagar was a necessary step as she got out of a bad marriage with one of the biggest superstars that Hindi cinema had seen until then, Rajesh Khanna, and her two daughters.
Dimple Kapadia was just 25 when she was making her ‘comeback’ in Ramesh Sippy’s Saagar. The makers also decided to cast her first hero, Rishi Kapoor, in the role of her love interest in the film. Sippy, the director known for making Sholay, told Amar Ujala that it was Javed Akhtar’s idea to cast Dimple and Rishi together in the film. Kamal Haasan, who was the third wheel in this love story was cast as he had had a big hit with Ek Duje Ke Liye. But casting Dimple was not an easy feat, or so it is said.
Many accounts of the time suggest that makers had to ask her husband Rajesh Khanna for ‘permission’ before casting her in a film, and not just during her ‘comeback’ days. Rishi Kapoor’s memoir ‘Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored’ has him talking about his father Raj Kapoor “fawning” over Rajesh Khanna so he would allow Dimple to shoot for the remaining portions of Bobby as they had gotten married while the film was still being shot. Dimple was still a minor at the time. Before working in Saagar, Rishi himself asked Rajesh if it was okay for him to work with Dimple, to which Rajesh replied that if Rishi “didn’t do the film, someone else would.” Ramesh had heard that Dimple had backed out of a few films after promising to star in them. He recalled being told, “She is his wife…” and was asked to remain cautious before finalising her for the film. However, she was cast and Saagar became a significant turning point in her life.
Dimple was just 16 when she married Rajesh Khanna. She had imagined that he would sing love songs to her, but reality sank in pretty quickly. In a chat with India Today in 1985, Dimple said that “life and happiness in our house came to an end” soon after they got married. By her own admission, she was “too young” to understand the importance of having a career, and didn’t even realise that she had hit gold with her debut film Bobby. But, she did understand that “from the day I entered Rajesh’s house, Ashirwad, I somehow knew that the marriage wouldn’t work.”
Dimple was being offered Rs 5 lakh for films after Bobby but her husband wanted her to quit films and stay at home, and she obliged. She admitted that it took her “a hell of a long time to realise” that this was not a relationship between equals – him being a superstar and her being 16 years younger than him, and not having her financial independence. After three attempts at leaving his house with her daughters, Dimple ultimately left in 1982 as she “realised I wouldn’t survive as a human being if I lived there any longer.” By this time, making it in the movies was essential for Dimple. She was a single mother with two daughters who couldn’t depend on her husband. She had to quickly figure things out for herself whilst also dealing with the many social stigmas that go with separation.
Saagar released in the middle of the worst decade of Hindi cinema, the 1980s. While the film wasn’t as cringe as many of its contemporaries that released in the same year – like Mard, Ghulami and Meri Jung, it certainly wasn’t great either. Its saving grace was its music by RD Burman, which is primarily the reason as to why Saagar continues to be remembered. Made on a budget of Rs 3.2 crore, Sippys threw everything they had at the film. Ramesh, who had made the most revered film of Hindi cinema until then, Sholay, hadn’t had a hit since 1975. He had made films like Shaan and Shakti, but everything looked pale when compared to Sholay. Saagar was another shot for Ramesh to create something new, something that would establish that there was more to him than Sholay.
As Saagar released, the film was already generating some gossip with Rishi and Dimple getting back together, and sharing a few intimate moments on screen. Such was the anticipation that Rishi didn’t even tell his wife Neetu about the on-screen kiss until she saw it herself on the night of the premiere. Rishi shared that Neetu was “threatened” by Dimple when he worked with her in Saagar, and some of it stemmed from those Booby days when Dimple was “more than a friend.” During the making of Bobby, film magazines like Stardust suggested that Rishi and Dimple’s relationship wasn’t all that innocent, and that there was romance brewing between the two. Rishi said that a ring that belonged to him, and was worn by Dimple was flung into the sea by Rajesh when he proposed to Dimple. And this, further fueled the rumors that Rishi was a broken-hearted man after Dimple married Rajesh.
But the big scandal of the film was a shot of Dimple at a beach in a towel that suggested more than what was usually permitted by the Central Board of Film Certification. In 2025, the shot doesn’t seem scandalous but one can imagine why this would have become a talking point after the release of the film. This was also the era when Raj Kapoor made Ram Teri Ganga Maili and tried to suggest that shooting Mandakini under a waterfall in a white garment wasn’t meant to be suggestive. This particular memory associated with Saagar wasn’t all that pleasant for Dimple because even more than a decade later, in 1998, she chose to not answer any questions about it. “I don’t want to talk about the swimming costume bit, but Saagar was indeed a great film for a comeback. I proved that a married woman with a two kids can also make a comeback if she wants to,” she told Rediff.
Saagar wasn’t the big hit that the Sippys had hoped for. Soon after this, Ramesh moved on to television and directed Doordarshan’s Buniyaad. He directed a few films like Bhrashtachar, Akayla, Shimla Mirchi and so, Saagar became his last film of any importance. But for Dimple, this was a life changing film as it allowed her to reclaim her career.
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