Actress, director and filmmaker, Pooja Bhatt is one of the most influential names in Bollywood. Pooja’s successful career never paved way for a happy love life, resulting to only tragedies.
One of the most successful names of Hindi cinema, Pooja Bhatt needs no introduction. She made her acting debut when she was just 17-year-old with the film named, Daddy, which was directed by her own father, Mahesh Bhatt. Born to Mahesh Bhatt and Kiran Bhatt (Loraine Bright before marriage), Pooja Bhatt is replica of her father in every sense. Just like Mahesh, Pooja too never minces her words and calls a spade a spade. Pooja Bhatt’s mother, Kiran was originally of English, Scottish, Burmese and Armenian descent. Talking about Pooja Bhatt’s family, she has a brother, Rahul Bhatt and two half-sisters, actress, Alia Bhatt and writer, Shaheen Bhatt born to her stepmother, Soni Razdan.
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Pooja Bhatt has always been controversy’s favourite child. Whether it is her lip-lock picture with her father Mahesh Bhatt for a magazine shoot or her controversial love life, Pooja Bhatt has always been in the lap of controversies. There is no denying the fact that Pooja has always been the target of the hullabaloo, courtesy to the fact that she is always ahead of her times. Pooja Bhatt’s affairs had always garnered a lot of attention. Be it with Bobby Deol, Fardeen Khan or Ranvir Shorey, she has a list of flings. And finally, she found her true love in Manish Makhija to only part ways with him after years of being in nuptial bond.
It was at the age of 20, when Mahesh Bhatt had tied the knot to Lorraine and a year later, the couple was blessed with Pooja Bhatt. Whenever we talk about Mahesh Bhatt and Pooja Bhatt, the first thing that comes up in our mind is the controversial picture of Pooja Bhatt kissing her father, Mahesh Bhatt and his statements afterwards.
In every newspaper back in the 90s, there were shocking revelations about Pooja’s alleged relationship with her father. In addition to this, what added fuel to the fire was the picture of Mahesh Bhatt kissing Pooja Bhatt on her lips for a magazine shoot cover. In fact, the lead story’s headline had a statement where it was written that he would have married Pooja if she wasn’t his daughter. It stated, "If Pooja wasn't my daughter, I'd have loved to marry her."
After this incident happened, no one fended this off as a natural affection of a father, rather a lot of hue and cry happened. Everyone started speculating that if the father-daughter duo is in an incest relationship. Though neither Mahesh nor Pooja made comments on this issue, wild speculations have followed ever since.
Pooja Bhatt had a relationship with actor, Ranvir Shorey. Pooja and Ranvir were great friends and their friendship had turned into love eventually. Pooja and her boyfriend, Ranvir were even living together in an apartment. And if the reports are to be believed, Ranvir Shorey and Pooja Bhatt were in fact engaged to each other. It is alleged by Pooja Bhat that the two allegedly broke off because of, Pooja’s boyfriend, Ranvir’s abusive behaviour, over-drinking habit, and specifically, for an incident where he struck her in a drunken stupor. Pooja had even shared that she was in a relationship with an alcoholic who used to beat her up.
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On the other hand, in an explosive interview with Rediff.com, Ranvir shared a totally different story. Sharing how their relationship was, Ranvir after their bitter separation stated, “Just like any normal couple. We had our share of tiffs. But today (pauses and begins to look at the ceiling). I used to drink at her place. Often, she used to say I was drinking too much and not taking enough care of her. On such occasions, I used to volunteer leaving the scene. That used to irritate her, and she would get violent. A scuffle would ensue. Mind you, it takes me drinking to get violent. She gets violent without drinking, too. I must have told her a relationship cannot work if she behaved like this at least 30 times.”
When he was asked about that night when the ugly spat happened and they decided to part ways, he said, “Like every day, I was at Pooja's place. The usual scuffle ensued. I decided to call off the relationship. Things got out of hand. I packed my bags and left. When I slid behind the steering wheel of my car, I realised I had forgotten one of my bags. I started calling Pooja on her cell phone (groans). She disconnected my calls. I kept trying to reach her. As I was dialling, I heard the glass shatter around me. I looked back to see that both windows of my car had been broken. I came out and saw Pooja's brother Rahul standing with an iron rod. I was dazed. Before I knew what happened, he started whacking me with the rod.”
Pooja Bhatt's ex-husband, Manish Makhija
After her ugly breakup with Ranvir Shorey, Pooja Bhatt had found love in Manish Makhija, who was also famous by the name of Udham Singh. Manish happened to be an Indian VJ, and Mumbai-based restaurateur. Pooja and Manish met each other, became best of friends and soon started having feelings for one another. Without wasting any time, Pooja Bhatt married Manish in 2003 after dating for only 2 months. Sadly, the two had begun their forever journey only to part ways in 2014 after 11 blissful years of marriage. And talking about Pooja Bhatt’s kids, although she remained married to Manish for 11 years, Pooja refrained herself from motherhood.
Pooja chose to clarify the reason for her divorce with her husband, Manish on the micro-blogging site, Twitter, where she posted, "I choose to live life on MY terms & refuse to perform to the gallery. Certificates don't make or break marriages & relationships! Life does! To all those who care & especially those that don't my husband Munna & Me have decided to part ways after 11 glorious years of marriage. Our split as some might call it is amicable & we hold each other in the highest esteem for now and forever. The reason I explain Is because we are both part of the public domain. Our friends, well-wishers, and foes are free to now speculate.”
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Pooja Bhatt and Alia Bhatt relationship has always been inspirational to many. Although, they are half-sisters, but their love for one another speaks volumes on their bond. Be it cheering for one another’s achievements to sharing throwback pictures with each other, Alia and Pooja are the perfect examples of modern relationships. Alia had once said that even after her father’s second marriage, her family has no facade and fakeness and are honest with each other.
When Alia had made her debut in Bollywood with Student Of The Year, rumours about she being Mahesh Bhatt and Pooja Bhatt’s daughter had spread like wildfire. In Karan Johar’s talk show, Koffee With Karan, when Alia was quipped about the worst rumour she had heard about herself. The stunning actress had replied, “That I'm the daughter of Mahesh Bhatt and Pooja Bhatt."
During the promotions of 2 States, when Alia was asked about the same rumour in an interview with The Times of India, she had stated, “I was asked a question about my father's second marriage and I said it's not something that has affected me as a child or probably I never gave importance to it. The next thing I see is it's written that I am Pooja and Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter. It's ridiculous! I think the person who wrote this should get his brains diagnosed; I feel sorry for him.”
Pooja Bhatt is one of the controversial actresses of her times. Whether it is her bold photoshoots or unapologetic bold interviews, Pooja had always hogged the limelight of controversies. Pooja had posed with some male models for a cover of a leading magazine which had read, “The New Morality”. At the time, when tank tops and micro-mini skirts were tabooed, Pooja had made bikini the new normal. She even dared to pose flaunting her body paint for a magazine, where the caption had read, “Pooja dares to appear in her birthday suit!”
Pooja Bhatt’s life has been always been full of controversies. In case we missed out on some aspect that you know, do let us know in the comments box below!
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