Meet the popular actress of the 90s, who was a strong competitor to Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi. Despite her troubled personal life, she was hailed for being the face of Indian cinema.
When Hindi cinema only featured heroines in conventional roles, she broke all the norms and created an uproar by donning micro minis. During the time when dancing to lyrics of a double-meaning song was considered vulgar, this actress gave some of the quirkiest dance numbers. Yes, we are talking about the gorgeous Karisma Kapoor, who introduced the oomph factor into the entertainment world with her dance numbers.
Karisma Kapoor is one of the most popular and highest-paid actresses of the 90s. She was considered a strong contender to both Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi. Due to her body of work, she was termed 'inimitable'. With films like Raja Babu, Hero No. 1, Raja Hindustani, Dil To Pagal Hai, Biwi No. 1, Zubeidaa, and many more, Karisma’s career trajectory was unbeatable.
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While Karisma had a successful professional life, her personal life was never a bed of roses. Although she was born with a silver spoon to Randhir Kapoor and Babita in the reputed Kapoor family (the first Indian family to venture into cinema), Karisma never enjoyed the perks of being a Kapoor daughter. After Babita’s separation from Randhir Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor and her baby sister, Kareena Kapoor, were raised by their mother. Let us look at some unknown aspects of Karisma Kapoor’s life.
At the mere age of 17, Karisma Kapoor began her journey into acting, but the actress didn’t get a dreamy debut because she was a Kapoor daughter. The Kapoor family was firm in its belief that girls should not be a part of the movie industry, especially as actresses. However, Karisma broke all the rules set by her family and became the first daughter to make a name for herself, just like the legendary male superstars of her family.
Karisma once revealed that her mother had to sell her jewellery to make ends meet. She made her debut with Prem Qaidi, but after a series of flops, she tasted success and stardom with the movie, Raja Hindustani. And since then, this stunning actress has not looked back.
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Karisma Kapoor had a controversial love life, as her name was linked with many Bollywood actors. Her first prominent relationship was with her Jigar and Suhag co-star, Ajay Devgn. During the filming of the films, Ajay and Karisma became close and good friends.
Soon, Ajay and Karisma started dating, but Karisma got to know that Ajay was two-timing her with Raveena Tandon. Soon, the two parted their ways. After breaking up with Ajay, Karisma found solace in the arms of actor Akshaye Khanna. Soon, they fell in love, and reportedly, Karisma's father, Randhir Kapoor, had even sent a marriage proposal for his daughter to Akshaye's father, Vinod Khanna.
But Karisma’s mother, Babita was not happy with Karisma getting married as she was at the peak of her career, and as a result, the two broke up. Karisma was also rumoured to be dating Govinda and Salman Khan as she had done many films opposite them.
Soon after Karisma Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna broke up, she met Abhishek at his sister, Shweta Bachchan’s wedding and sparks flew between them. Soon, the two started dating, and the duo even managed to keep their relationship under wraps for five years. In 2002, during Amitabh Bachchan’s 60th birthday, Jaya Bachchan announced Abhishek and Karisma’s engagement, which came as a pleasant surprise to their fans.
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But later in January 2003, the shocking announcement came from the families when the most-awaited wedding of B-town was called off abruptly. To this day, nobody knows why Karisma and Abhishek’s engagement broke. It was reported that Babita asked for a prenup in which Amitabh would transfer some of his wealth into Abhishek’s name, to secure her daughter’s future.
After Karisma and Abhishek’s engagement was called off, Babita found a rich businessman for her daughter. Within months of her engagement being called off, Babita got Karisma married to a rich Delhi-based businessman, Sunjay Kapur in September 2003. He was previously married to famous fashion designer, Nandita Mahtani. The couple welcomed two children together, Samaira and Kiaan.
Sunjay and Karisma’s marriage didn’t last long and the two separated in 2010. Soon after the birth of their son, Karisma walked out of the marriage and filed for divorce. During the divorce proceedings, Sunjay and Karisma did a lot of mudslinging and shared shocking revelations about their marriage.
In her divorce plea, Karisma accused Sunjay of abusing her physically from the very beginning of their marriage. Finally, in 2016, the two were granted divorce, and the custody of their children went to Karisma. Post her divorce from Sunjay, Karisma got heavy alimony as compensation.
Karisma Kapoor ruled the box office in the 90s with some of the highest-grossing films to her credit. The actress took a break from the silver screen in 2004 and only appeared in cameos. In 2020, she made her OTT debut with ALT Balaji’s web series, Mentalhood. And now after staying away from Bollywood for almost ten years, Karisma is all set to make her comeback with Homi Adajania’s mystery thriller, Murder Mubarak.
In an interview with ETimes, Karisma Kapoor revealed why she took a break from acting. Revealing how she had a burnout, Karisma stated:
“Honestly, it was out of my choice. My kids were young. I wanted to be at home. I started working at an unusually young age. I was working right out of school, literally. And I'd done so many movies back to back. I’ve worked four shifts a day and three shifts a day for multiple years. I would have 8 to 10 releases every year. Thankfully, most of them were successful. But the point was that I had done a lot of work and I think it reached a kind of burnout.”
All that glitters is not gold, and Karisma Kapoor is the perfect example of this. Despite hailing from an affluent family, she struggled her way to the top. As Karisma is all set to shine on the silver screen once again, we cannot wait to witness her glory all over again.
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