Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt has opened up about her family’s complicated personal history, revealing how Soni Razdan once admitted she felt “very guilty” about her relationship with filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.Speaking in an interview with Vickey Lalwani, Pooja reflected on her parents’ separation, Mahesh Bhatt’s relationship with late actor Parveen Babi, and the emotional maturity with which her family eventually dealt with it all.
‘Aashiqui was based on my mother and father’s romance’
Describing her parents’ relationship, Pooja said, “The man who met my mother when he was 17 years old in Bombay Scottish… Aashiqui ki jo love story Rahul Roy aur Anu Aggarwal play out karte hai was based on my mother and father’s romance.”She continued, “Uske baad unhone shaadi kar li. I was born. Rishte me sannata aa gaya because the fairy-tale romance did not last. He moved out. Wapas aa gaye. They tried to make their marriage work. They had my brother. But that could not save a relationship that had run its course.”She further reflected on relationships and heartbreak, saying, “Was it easy? No, not really. It’s not easy when you wake up to the fact there is no Santa Claus. Relationships don’t last forever. Yeh happily ever after jiske bare me hum filmon aur fairy tales mein baat karte hai, wo hota nahi hai.”
Heartfelt conversation with Soni Razdan
Recalling a heart-to-heart conversation with Soni Razdan in Coonoor, Pooja said, “Soni had a heart-to-heart conversation with me… She said, ‘Pooja, I too feel so guilty, felt very guilty.’”Pooja revealed that she reassured Soni and told her not to blame herself for the breakdown of her parents’ marriage. “I told her with all of my heart, ‘Soni, you could not have broken up a relationship that was together. There is no space for anybody in a relationship that is solid unless there are crevices there or something was lacking so somebody else could come and find that space.’”
‘There are no villains in life’
Pooja said her understanding of relationships evolved over the years, especially after seeing how her parents continued to maintain dignity and warmth toward each other despite separating.She recalled a recent moment when Mahesh Bhatt visited her home in Bandra. “Bhatt sahab came home, he was hungry and my mother made poha for him,” she said, adding that her mother, Kiran Bhatt, also read portions of Mahesh Bhatt’s book The Ashes Are Warm.Pooja shared, “When she reached the portion where Parveen was handcuffed and arrested, she said, ‘Mujhe kitab band karna pada because I got very affected.’”According to Pooja, her mother then told Mahesh Bhatt, “I realised after reading this book that there are no villains in life.”Reflecting on that moment, Pooja added, “If two people can be there for each other morally through thick and thin, even if the world is on one side, you stand by somebody… that is love.”
‘I would rather hear it from my father’s mouth’
Pooja also recalled how Mahesh Bhatt informed her about Soni Razdan long before the rest of the world knew.“In fact, I knew about Soni before my mother did,” she revealed. “He woke me up and said, ‘I have to let you know that I have met this lady and I am going to be moving out. It doesn’t mean that I love you any less and I will always be there.’”The actor said many people later questioned whether such honesty was appropriate for a child, but she disagreed.“I said agar woh mujhe nahi kahega to kisko kahega? I would rather have heard it from my father’s mouth or my mother’s mouth than hear it from Stardust magazine, Cine Blitz or the mohalla.”
‘When Shaheen was born, my father first called my mother’
Pooja also shared how, over the years, the family evolved into what she described as an “extended family,” despite the complicated beginnings.“It took many years for things to become normal,” she admitted. “I did see my mother’s pain. But they always maintained decorum and grace with each other.”Recalling the birth of Shaheen Bhatt, Pooja revealed an emotional detail about her father’s bond with Kiran Bhatt even after they had separated.“When Shaheen was born, the first person my father called from the hospital was my mother,” she said. “I will never forget that moment when my mother came to me and said, ‘Hey, you have a sister now.’”Pooja added that today she shares a warm relationship with Soni Razdan as well as sisters Shaheen and Alia Bhatt.“We are generally a family, all of us. We don’t get into each other’s space. We are there for each other when we need the other to be,” she said.
Pooja Bhatt on Parveen Babi: ‘I used to love her’
Pooja also spoke warmly about Parveen Babi and her memories of meeting the late star as a child.“I remember my father taking me to her home. She was a beautiful woman,” Pooja said, recalling how Parveen gifted her a bottle of perfume.“I will never forget the manner in which she gave me that perfume. That’s my memory of Parveen — this beautiful movie star whose impulse was to give something.”
‘I do not come from a broken home’
Despite the emotional upheaval in the family, Pooja insisted she never viewed herself as someone from a fractured household.“My father might have moved out but that’s truly a matter of geography,” she said.“I do not come from a broken home. My home is more together than most people’s supposed functional homes where on paper you are staying under one roof but your lives are completely separate.”
