In 1985, when Sanjeev Kumar died, Sulakshana Pandit reportedly went into shock.
Sulakshana Pandit made her acting debut with the film Uljhan in 1975 where she worked opposite Sanjeev Kumar.
It is not common for Bollywood reel-life couples to turn into real-life couples. From yesteryear couples like Amitabh Bachchan-Jaya Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor-Neetu Kapoor to Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone, we have often seen professional relationships between actors blossom into love in real life. But there are some cases of unrequited love in the film industry that we rarely touch upon. We are going to talk about one such case where a real-life love triangle resulted in heartbreaks for the two involved.
It involves Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini and actress-cum-singer Sulakshana Pandit. Most of you might know that Sanjeev Kumar and Sulakshana Pandit remain unmarried all their lives. We will tell you why.
Sulakshana Pandit made her acting debut with the film Uljhan in 1975 where she worked opposite Sanjeev Kumar. She was smitten by Sanjeev Kumar right from the first film they did together but kept her feelings to herself because the actor’s heart was somewhere else. He was in love with Hema Malini. There were also reports that during the shooting of Sholay, Sanjeev Kumar even proposed to her. However, Hema Malini was in love with Dharmendra and rejected his proposal.
Sanjeev Kumar was heartbroken and shared his pain with Sulakshana Pandit, with whom he had become good friends. The actress then confessed to him about her feelings about him. But Sanjeev Kumar could not reciprocate Sulakshana Pandit’s love and turned her down.
Having failed in love, both remained unmarried while Hema Malini married Dharmendra. In 1985, when Sanjeev Kumar died, Sulakshana Pandit reportedly went into shock. She revealed this herself in an interview in 1999. She even fell in the washroom and broke her hip. Sulakshana Pandit made infrequent appearances in public following her four surgeries, which left her immobile.
