Rajendra Kumar sabotaged his son Kumar Gaurav's career and mine: Love Story actor Vijayta

Actor Vijayta Pandit reflects on her career post-Love Story, the 1981 film starring Kumar Gaurav. She claims Rajendra Kumar had her removed from films, impacting both her and Kumar Gaurav's chances for success in Bollywood.

In Short

• Vijayta Pandit became a star with the 1981 film Love Story
• She struggled in her career due to Rajendra Kumar's interference
• Rajendra Kumar didn't want his son Kumar Gaurav to work with Vijayta

Veteran actor Vijayta Pandit, who became an overnight star after the release of the 1981 film Love Story opposite Kumar Gaurav, recently opened up about her tumultuous career in Bollywood. Despite the film's success, Vijayta struggled to deliver another hit because she claims Kumar's father and popular actor Rajendra Kumar got her removed from films after learning about her and Kumar's off-screen romance.

Vijayta and Kumar Gaurav fell in love on the set of Love Story, and despite being engaged to Raj Kapoor's daughter, he wanted to marry Vijayta.

Vijayta recalled how renowned filmmaker Ramanand Sagar had plans to work with her on a film titled Romance, but she was replaced by Poonam Dhillon. She also shot for ten days on a film called Rahi in Goa. However, she claimed that Rajendra Kumar got her removed from the film.

"Rajendra ji got me removed from all the films," Pandit said in an interview with Lehren Retro. "He is the main person who didn't let me work with Bunty (Kumar Gaurav). All the producers would say they want to cast Bunty and me; it is a hit pair. But Rajendra ji would say, 'Heroine se picture nahi banti hai (a film doesn't become a hit because of a heroine), it is a hit because of the hero.' He would suggest other actresses like Poonam Dhillon, Padmini Kolhapure, and Rati Agnihotri instead."

Vijayta, 57, further described Rajendra Kumar's misguided attempts to replicate the success of Love Story for his son Kumar Gaurav. After 15–20 flops, Rajendra roped in a big name like Madhuri Dixit for Kumar's film Phool. "He put all the money he earned from Love Story into that film and eventually lost it too," Vijayta lamented.

Reflecting on what could have been, she stated, "If we (she and Kumar Gaurav) continued to work together, we would have succeeded. People wanted to see us together after the success of Love Story." While Gaurav went on to work with various actresses, none of those films found success. "Rajendra Kumar even called an actor from Madras to work with his son; still, none of his films worked. All were flops."

After her relationship with Kumar Gaurav ended, Vijayta, sister of music-composer duo Jatin-lalit, married Aadesh Srivastava in 1990, with whom she has two sons. Aadesh died in 2015.