Raj Kapoor was 21 when he got married to the 16-year-old Krishna Kapoor and for them, it was love at first sight. In a recent interview, Krishna’s nephew Monty Premnath shared the origin of their love story and how they first met each other. He shared that Raj and veteran actor Prem Nath were friends who also worked with each other and Krishna, who was Prem Nath’s sister, first ran into Raj when she was playing the tanpura.
Talking to Vickey Lalwani on his YouTube channel, Monty said that Raj and Prem Nath were on a holiday in Madhya Pradesh when Raj first heard Krishna’s music. She used to play with a veil on her face but Raj insisted on seeing her face. “Krishna, my bua, Krishna aunty was playing the tanpura there. Raj uncle wanted to see her face but she would stay under a veil,” he recalled.
It was then that Prem Nath realised that she might raise her veil for Ashok Kumar as she was a big fan of the actor. So, he lied and told her that Ashok was accompanying him. Hearing this, she lifted her veil and as soon as their eyes met, they fell in love. “She was a very big fan of Ashok Kumar so my father said ‘Krishna, mere sath Ashok Kumar aaya hai (Ashok Kumar is with me) so she picked up the pallu and she saw Raj Uncle and it was love at first sight. And they got married,” he recalled.
Raj and Krishna’s marriage went through many ups and downs but they stayed married until his passing in 1988. Raj and Krishna got married even before he found fame and in the subsequent years, when Raj’s marriage went through rough patches amid rumours of his affairs, Krishna stuck by him. As per Rishi Kapoor’s memoir, the only time she put her foot down was when he was apparently having an affair with his Sangam co-star Vyjayanthimala as she moved into a hotel with their kids. The couple patched up later.
