Sulakshana Pandit was rumoured to be in a relationship with Sanjeev Kumar. However, he refused to marry her. Many reports also suggested that Sulakshana’s love for Sanjeev was one sided. The veteran actress passed away recently and in a recent interview, Sulakshana’s sister, actress Vijayta Pandit has opened up on her. She expresses pain for the fact that Sulakshana never got married. Vijata was married to the late composer Aadesh Shrivastava and she had got Sulakshana home to stay with them. Vijaya revealed during a chat with Vickey Lalwani, “She got a jolt when Sanjeev Kumar refused to marry her.” Talking about the reason for Sanjeev saying no for marriage, Vijata said, “I don’t know whether he told her or no. Woh kisi aur se pyaar karte the aur Sulakshana unse pyaar karti thi. (She used to love him and he loved someone else.” When further asked, “Sanjeev ji ka affair toh Hema ji se tha”, she responded, “Main Hema ji ka naam nai lena chahti, kisi ko badnaam nai karna chahti. Lekin duniya jaanti hai. I don’t want to take her name. she is a lovely lady. (I don’t want to take Hema ji’s name. She’s a lovely lady but the world knows now about it).” A while ago, author Hanif Zaveri who had penned Sanjeev’s biography, had revealed that it was a one sided love from Sulakshana’s side. Reacting to it, Vijayta said, “Sanjeev ji hamare ghar aate the, meri maa khana khilaati thi. Sholay film ki kahaani woh humko sunaate the, hum sabko. Woh hamare ghar pe aaya jaaya karte the. Woh like karte the Sulakshana ko. (Sanjeev ji used to come home, my mother used to feed him food. He used to visit our house, discuss Sholay’s story that time)” Vijayta added further, “Sulakshana ne unko sahaara diya tha jab Sanjeev ji ka dil toota tha. Woh ghanton bitaate the. Woh Sulakshana ko like karte the, hasi mazaak karte the. Sulakshana Jeevan mein seedhi saadhi ladki thi. Aisa nai hai ke ghoom lo, phir lo, sab karlo. Unko shadi hi karni thi. (Sulakshana gave support to him when his heart was broken after break-up with Hema Malini. He used to spend hours with her and liking was there. But Sulakshana always wanted to marry him).” The ‘Love Story’ actress further denied rumours that her sister went ‘mad’ after Sanjeev refused to marry her and after his death. “She was never pagal – yeh sab jhooth afwaah udaate hai duniya wale. Aap kisi ke liye bol nai sakte the she lost her mental stability. She was never adversely affected that she got mad. Kuch sadmein the unko dil mein lage the but it wasn’t like she went mad (She was never mad. All these were just fake rumours. You cannot say this about someone. Yes, she was heartbroken and affected with some things in life, like our mother’s death and Sanjeev ji’s death but she never was mad).”
