In less than 10 days, the real story of Bollywood's original Khalnayak will hit the screens. Known to be controversy's favourite child, Sanjay Dutt's colourful life has been in news for many decades. From drug abuse to his three marriages to his jail stnt, everything about Dutt has kept the fans intrigued. But it is his rumoured affair with Madhuri in the 90s that has still kept the fans hooked.
A lot was written about the Sanjay Dutt-Madhuri Dixit love story back in the day, but the two have mostly maintained silence on the subject. The rumours of their proximity were flowing fast in early 90s. If films like Saajan and Khalnayak were establishing them as one of the most popular on-screen jodis, their off-screen romance was also grabbing eyeballs. So much so that the rumours of their marriage spread like wildfire. But there was a hitch. Sanjay was already married to Richa Sharma.
According to Yasser Usman's book Sanjay Dutt: The Crazy Untold Story of Bollywood's Bad Boy, the rumours of Sanjay and Madhuri's affair reached Richa in New York, where she was undergoing treatment for cancer.
"She was getting restless and wanted to save her marriage. Her cancer was better and, with her doctor's permission, she wanted to come back to India. The press lit into Sanjay for forsaking his ailing wife. The aforementioned Star & Style cover story was titled 'Sunjay-Madhuri - Will Marriage Destroy Them Professionally?' (February 1993). It said, 'They (Sunjay-Madhuri) have braved it all. Their own initial personal doubts (Should we get into this?", their parental opposition ("It's not the right thing to do.") and the society's outrage ("How can they be so selfish and mean?"). The couple in love's defiant stand ("It's our lives, we can do what we want") however, has undoubtedly brought their respective images crashing down in the eyes of their idolising fans," read an excerpt from the biography.
The book further suggests that after three years in USA, Richa returned to India with daughter Trishala, but Sanjay was apparently avoiding her.
"He had moved on. In an interview to CineBlitz, Richa's sister Ena Sharma said that Sanjay didn't even come to the airport to pick up Richa and Trishala. After spending just fifteen days in Mumbai, she abruptly went back to New York. According to the Sharma family, throughout her fight with cancer, Richa was motivated by the thought of finally getting to live a normal, happy life with Sanjay and their daughter Trishala. But now that she was in remission, her dream seemed futile and unattainable. She was utterly shattered."
Sanjay filed for divorce in early 1993 and a bitter custody battle for their daughter Trishala ensued.
However, Sanjay kept denying his affair with Madhuri. "There has to be something on between us for me to marry her," he had said in an interview.