Vinod Khanna is one of the greatest superstars of Indian cinema, who is not only known and remembered for his film roles but also for his eventful personal life.
Vinod Khanna joined Osho in the US at the peak of his career, but through it all, he always remained a family man. Vinod Khanna was married twice and had a total of 4 children.
Vinod Khanna first met his wife, Gitanjali Taleyar, in college. She was the daughter of A. F. S. Talyarkhan, the first Indian cricket commentator in the early 1950s. Vinod Khanna and Gitanjali fell in love and got married in 1971. They had two sons, Rahul Khanna and Akshaye Khanna, who both became Bollywood actors. Over the years, Vinod Khanna and Gitanjali drifted apart and got divorced in 1985.
Who is Vinod Khanna's second wife, Kavita Khanna?
Vinod Khanna lived outside India for many years, but in 1990, upon his return, he fell in love and married Kavita Daftary, daughter of industrialist Sharayu Daftary. The couple went on to have two children, a son and a daughter, Sakshi Khanna and Shraddha Khanna, respectively.
Vinod Khanna and Kavita Khanna remained married until his death in 2017. Kavita Khanna was a constant presence in Vinod Khanna's life and also helped him navigate the fallout that came after he returned from Osho's Ashram in the US.
Kavita Khanna, apart from being Vinod Khanna's wife, is also a successful career woman. An LSE graduate and a Barrister-at-Law from Lincoln's Inn, Kavita Khanna is also a four-time MP from Punjab's Gurdaspur constituency. She is also the founder trustee of the Kavita and Vinod Khanna Foundation, helping preserve the legacy of her late husband.
How is Kavita Khanna's relationship with Vinod Khanna's sons?
When Kavita Khanna married Vinod Khanna in 1990, she also became a stepmother to his sons, Rahul Khanna and Akshaye Khanna. Kavita Khanna was 16 years younger than Vinod Khanna. In an interview with Lavina Tandon, Kavita Khanna was asked about her relationship with Rahul and Akshaye Khanna. She said, "They were mine because they were Vinod's kids. They had to be mine, but they weren't mine. I didn't try to be a mother to them because they had the best mother."
How was Kavita Khanna's relationship with Vinod Khanna's first wife?
Opening up about her relationship with Vinod Khanna's first wife, Gitanjali, Kavita Khanna said, "Our relationship was perfect. There were no differences of any kind between us. There was a lot of respect between us, and we had set boundaries. We shouldn't be influenced by fictional stories where one is a victim and the other is cruel. These are just fictional stories. In life, when you are a wise person, you behave wisely. Whatever decisions we make, we stick to them, and life goes on."