Hrithik-Sussanne, Aamir-Reena: Bollywood's shocking divorces

It begins with a Once Upon a Time and ends with an Happily Ever After. With their picture-perfect disposition, celebrity marriages play out like fairy-tale romances in our mind. 

 

Reality, however, is no fantasy and everlasting relationships can be a myth. Even the seemingly stable, made-for-each-other pair can decide to call it quits. 

 

The shocking split of Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan and wife Sussanne owing to ‘individual choices’  is a heartbreaking reminder of these fragile, breakable bonds. 

 

Only recently filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and his discovery-turned-significant other, Kalki Koechlin reportedly decided to take a break from their two-year-old marriage. 

 

Here’s looking at some of Bollywood’s equally unexpected marital break-ups.

 

Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta were 18 and 20 respectively when they began seeing other.

 

The Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak star concealed his marital status for a while so that it wouldn’t affect his upcoming career. Its revelation didn’t affect his fan-following and the duo went on to become parents to two kids, Junaid and Ira.

 

The end of their solid 16-year-old marriage came as a rude surprise to everyone. What’s exemplary is how Reena continues to share a cordial relationship with her ex-husband and his new wife, Kiran and their two-year-old son, Azad.

Despite a 12-year age difference, Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh tied the knot in a hush-hush ceremony.

 

The odd couple appeared very much in love even after a decade of matrimony and two children, Sara and Ibrahim.

 

Rumours insisted Saif Ali Khan outgrew the relationship and began seeing Italian model Rozza Catalano on the sly. True or not, the Omkara actor did fall in love again with Kareena Kapoor and they got married last year in an elaborate ceremony.

 

To Amrita’s credit, she has raised her children to magnanimously embrace the new developments in their dad’s life.

Model-turned-Art of Living enthusiast Rhea Pillai stood like a pillar of strength by Sanjay Dutt’s side when he was doing time in prison. When he came out, the two got married without any hullaballoo.

 

Only Dutt’s busy work schedule and Pillai’s attachment to tennis star Leander Paes resulted in them drifting apart and resulting in a bitter divorce settlement.

 

Both Rhea and Dutt have remarried since (to Paes and Manyata respectively) as well as turned parents.

Kamal Haasan and Sarika were said to be involved while the South Indian superstar was still married to his first wife, Vani Ganpathy. 

 

After he legally separated with the latter, Sarika and he were in a live-in relationship till the birth of their daughter, Shruti. 

 

They married in 1988 had another daughter (Akshara) but reports of Haasan’s constant infidelities took its toll on their 16-year long marriage and ended in divorce.

Yogeeta Bali once told a magazine she was obsessed with the idea of marriage and tied the knot with the comedian, playback singer Kishore Kumar in a private Sikh ceremony out of this strange whim. 

 

Only she realised Mithun Chakraborty is the one her heart truly beats for on the sets of their movie together.

 

She broke up with Kishoreda (who went on to wed fourth wife, Leena Chandravarkar) to marry the Disco Dancer. 

 

Deeply hurt by her decision, the singer refused to lend his voice for Mithun with whom she has four children.

Bollywood’s Original Cowboy Feroz Khan fell in love with Sundari at first sight. The duo met at a party and dated for half a decade before making it official. 

 

After nearly 20 years of marital bliss, they felt a disconnect and decided to divorce without any acrimony living on different floors of the same bungalow.

 

The duo have two children together -- Laila and Fardeen.

 

Barely one year after tying the knot to Nepali businessman Samrat Dalal in a traditional ceremony, Manisha Koirala discovered he’s not the one for her.

 

Unable to carry the burden of a depressing relationship, Koirala filed for divorce.

 

More recently, the star of Bombay and Khamoshi has been in news for her inspiring battle against cancer.

Honey Irani was only a teenager when she fell for Javed Akhtar's struggling writer.

 

They got married, had two kids (Zoya, Farhan) and saw many ups and downs before he hit big time with Zanjeer. 

 

But Akhtar’s closeness to actress Shabana Azmi and growing distance between the husband and wife cause many ugly spats. When Irani realised there’s no point in holding on to a loveless marriage, they opted to divorce.

 

While the child actor turned writer/filmmaker remained single, Akhtar immediately married Azmi. 

College sweethearts Vinod Khanna and Geetanjali envisioned a life together and had it good going while his career prospered and she raised their sons -- Akshaye and Rahul.

 

But VK’s sudden attraction towards spirituality compelled him to give up everything -- personal and professional and move to Osho’s Ashram in the United States. 

 

Understandably, this decision damaged his marriage irreversibly and the duo decided to file for divorce.

 

While Geentajali continues to be a committed mom to her bachelor sons, VK married Kavita and they have two kids -- Sakshi and Shraddha.