When Raj Kapoor accepted relationship with Nargis, explained why he never left wife Krishna to marry her: ‘My wife is not my…’

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“She was very young. Angelic, absolutely… What a great actress she was. Films, for me, meant a complete, absolute, dedicated devotion and belonging. So, anybody and anything that revolved around it, very much became a part of my being. And I must say that (Nargis) contributed a lot to what RK (Studio) is,” Kapoor said in a documentary produced by Prasar Bharti, chronicling his life and legacy.

“Right from the very beginning, from the word go, I drew a line. And it’s a very, very straight fact that my wife is not my actress and my actress is not my wife. By my wife, I mean the mother of my children. So, my home life, somewhere or the other, was there. Krishna was the mother of my children. While here was my actress. She would share, and have that satisfaction of having contributed to my creativity. That is her satisfaction,” he stated, implying that he never intended to marry Nargis and wished to simply maintain an affair with her while safeguarding his family as his ultimate priority.

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He further elaborated, “Neither did I try to put across my wife to be my actress, or my actress to be my wife. And that is one big saving grace which balanced… We kept on working over the years, with all the intensity. Because, to each his own, whatever belonged to one, one had it. One did not feel in any manner playing second fiddle, no! You are absolutely supreme where you belong. And then, another thing, the understanding part of it. Each one understood, and nobody cheated anybody. The mother of my children wasn’t meant to be my actress, so she didn’t feel cheated. I didn’t feel that way. And similarly, the actress came into me being my actress, not the mother of my children.”

Despite her deep love for Kapoor, Nargis eventually came to terms with the fact that he would never leave Krishna. Heartbroken, she moved on and married Sunil Dutt in 1958. Kapoor, however, saw this as a betrayal. According to Madhu Jain’s book “The Kapoors: The First Family of Indian Cinema”, Kapoor once told journalist Suresh Kohli, “The world tells me I let Nargis down. It was she who betrayed me.”

Actor-director Raj Kapoor with his wife Krishna Malhotra and legendary movie star Nargis. (Express archive photo)

The book also revealed that Kapoor was shattered by her marriage. “He broke down and cried in front of his friends and colleagues when he found out that she had married Sunil Dutt. Raj Kapoor took it very badly: he would reportedly burn himself with cigarette butts to check if he was not dreaming, wondering how she could have done this to him.”

Rishi Kapoor, in his autobiography Khullam Khulla, recalled how his mother temporarily moved out of their home and stayed at the Natraj Hotel on Marine Drive upon discovering Kapoor’s affair with actress Vyjayanthimala. “I was very young when my father had an affair with Nargis Ji, and so was not affected by it. I don’t remember feeling anything was amiss at home either. But I do remember moving into the Natraj Hotel on Marine Drive with my mom during the time Papa was involved with Vyjayanthimala,” he wrote.