Vijayta Pandit says ‘money minded’ Rajendra Kumar destroyed her career, ‘brainwashed’ son Kumar Gaurav into marrying Sanjay Dutt’s sister: ‘My life became tragedy’

Veteran actor Vijayta Pandit accused late legendary actor Rajendra Kumar of ruining her career because he disapproved of her relationship with his son, actor Kumar Gaurav.

By: Entertainment Desk

Chennai | Updated: November 17, 2025 02:33 PM IST

5 min read

Vijayta Pandit accused Rajendra Kumar of destroyed her career

Veteran actor Vijayta Pandit — sister to actor Sulakshana Pandit and music composer duo Jatin-Lalit — recently revealed the real reason behind her short-lived career in the Hindi film industry. In an interaction with Vickey Lalwani, Vijayta accused late legendary actor Rajendra Kumar of ruining her career because he disapproved of her relationship with his son, actor Kumar Gaurav. Vijayta made her acting debut alongside Kumar Gaurav in the 1981 film Love Story, and the two fell in love while working together. The film was a blockbuster at the time and both Kumar Gaurav and Vijayta became stars overnight. However, their stardom was shortlived, while Gaurav will deliver another hit Naam with brother-in-law Sanjay Dutt, Vijayta vanished from the scene. Their real-life love story was equally unlucky.

In the interaction, Vijayta recalled how, despite promising her marriage and making her wait for years, Kumar Gaurav went on to marry Sanjay Dutt’s sister Namrata Dutt without even informing her. She accused Rajendra Kumar and his family of “brainwashing” Kumar Gaurav into taking the decision.

She said, “My life became a tragedy after Kumar Gaurav came into my life. My whole life was finished after that. His father didn’t let me work with him. My career was over. I was like a handicap person. What could I have done? I had also loved him. It was Kumar Gaurav, who said I love you first. I didn’t pursue him. He used to come to my home to meet me. He became like family to me and he wanted to marry me. He promised marriage to me and made me wait for so many years and then married somebody else. I didn’t know how he took this drastic step.”

Also read | ’14 bodyguards, a person to bring drinks’: Piyush Mishra says Ranbir Kapoor a rare Bollywood star with no tantrums, industry living in ‘strange reality’

She added, “I knew that his family was against this marriage, especially his father Rajendra Kumar. I think his family brainwashed him and made him marry Namrata Dutt. I got the news that he’s getting married, and I had just spoken to him 3 days ago, and he had told me ‘I love you’, but then I found out that he’s getting married. Imagine what would be my situation? He didn’t even give me a hint that he is in talks to get married to Namrata.”

Vijayta said that Kumar Gaurav’s betrayal came as a shock to her family, who were left heartbroken. “My parents were in shock. This was a big jolt to my family. My mother fainted in shock. Nobody could believe that that boy could do this to me because he would visit me regularly at home,” she said.

Vijayta added that she tried contacting Kumar Gaurav after hearing about his wedding but was not allowed to speak to him. “Rajendra Kumar didn’t like that me and his son were in love. He was against us. So, when our film (Love Story) became a hit, he thought that the film only worked because of his son and that was not true. Kumar Gaurav didn’t tell me till the end that he was getting married. I tried to call him till the last day but I stopped after he got married,” she said.

“I don’t think he suffered. We both were in love and his family was against it. They wanted to move Bunty’s focus from me. One of his sisters would study with Namrata Dutt (Sanjay Dutt’s sister). She used to bring Namrata home and they started pushing them to know each other. They thought she was better than Vijayta. The family pressurized him so much that eventually Namrata and Bunty came close. They thought she was Sunil Dutt’s daughter and was wealthy, so she was a better option for Kumar Gaurav,” she had earlier told SCREEN.

Story continues below this ad

She also accused Rajendra Kumar of threatening producers and getting her removed from films, which eventually pushed her to quit the industry altogether. “I was cast in every film opposite Kumar Gaurav, but Rajendra Kumar asked the producer, ‘Pehle Vijayta ko hatao fir Bunty (Kumar Gaurav) kaam karega (Remove Vijayta from the project and only then Bunty will star in it).’ He got me removed from every film. It broke my heart and I said ‘leave it, I won’t work’,” she shared.

From the homepage