Dilip Kumar- Madhubala to Mahesh Bhatt- Parveen Babi: 10 real love stories of Bollywood with tragic endings

Love is one of the most beautiful feelings in this world and our film industry surely runs on it. No matter what is the genre of the movie, the crux is somehow driven by the feeling of love. While we all might have grown up listening about the happily ever afters in a relationship, there are many epic love stories that have become famous because of its tragic endings.

Love stories such as Heer-Ranjha, Romeo-Juliet, Shirin-Farhad and many might have inspired lovers across the globe to break the chains for their partners but fail to find their own happy endings. In Bollywood as well, while there are couples who are inspirations for the fans such as Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan or Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan etc. there are some couples who hit rock bottom and got a bitter ending.

Here's a list of Bollywood real-life couples whose love stories who never got their 'Happy Endings'.

1. Dilip Kumar and Madhubala

Just like Mughal-E-Azam, the epic love story of Dilip Kumar and Madhubala is no less than a super hit movie. A romance that began in the early 50s died a slow death by the beginning of 1960s, sometime after the release of Mughal-e-Azam. Madhubala and Dilip fell in love on the sets of Tarana and their love blossomed as they did three more movies together. Madhubala's sister revealed that after dating for nine long years, Dilip finally sent his sister with a wedding proposal to his lady love's house.

But reportedly, Madhubala's father was against this union and was the primary reason behind their breakup. Although as per Madhubala's sister, it wasn't her dad's disapproval but a court case that led to differences between the couple.

2. Dev Anand and Suraiya

Dev Anand and Suraiya's story is a classic example where religion became the barrier between the lovebirds. Superstar Dev Anand, who had a huge female fan base in the 40s, met Suraiya, the young, compassionate, beautiful and successful actress on the sets of 'Vidya' and got attracted to her simplicity. The couple was very much in love, even to decided to get married but got caught in the religious bigotry.

Both of them decided to get married by eloping during the shooting of Jeet in 1949, but their plan failed as Suraiya's conservative maternal grandmother, Badshah Begum, came to know about their plan and dragged the actress home. "Eventually, my grandmother succeeded in separating us. Dev was deeply hurt and offended by my lack of courage. But I was afraid for him. In retrospect, I don't think anything would have happened if I'd been bold enough." said actress Suraiya in an old interview.

3. Mahesh Bhatt and Parveen Babi

The tragic love story of Parveen Babi and Mahesh Bhatt's romance is one such heartbreaking tale that will surely break your heart. When director Mahesh Bhatt met Parveen Babi, she was healing herself from a failed relationship with Kabir Bedi. Though Bhatt was already married to Lorraine Bright (Kiran Bhatt), but that did not stop him from falling head over heels in love with Babi. All was going well till Bhatt discovered that Parveen has a mental disorder.

Parveen was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. As per the reports, Mahesh tried being there for her, but her delusions kept getting worse. "She threw open the door of the moving car, saying the bomb would burst and ran out on the road with me trying to hold her. People thought 'Parveen Babi' was having a fight with her boyfriend. Somehow, I huddled her into a taxi and brought her home," Bhatt disclosed in an interview.

Even after trying hard, nothing was able to cure Parveen. Though Mahesh had already reconciled with his wife when Parveen was gone for treatment, he couldn't control himself from getting back with her when she came back. But eventually, they broke up in 1980.

In an interview, Mahesh said, "I understood that the relationship was doomed and that I was deluding myself in hoping for a happy ending. The only person who had cushioned her from ECT, who had nursed her and had suggested a way out; she didn't want to hear his truth! UG had fathered me and mothered her. There was no way the party would continue." Even when she passed away, Bhatt was the one to claim her body. He claimed that he owes his success to her and the movie he made 'Arth' inspired by their love story.

4. Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Dutt

Sanjay Dutt has always been a ladies man. He has dated many actresses of Bollywood but one of the most talked-about relationships was with the Dhak Dhak Queen, Madhuri Dixit. There was a time when Madhuri Dixit and Sanju Baba were so much in love that it caused a rift between Sanjay and his wife Richa. 

Sanjay and Madhuri never accepted their relationship openly and after Sanjay's arrest, the lovebirds went on record to say that nothing was going on between them.

5. Nana Patekar and Manisha Koirala

The success of Khamoshi: The Musical in 1996, not added any other feather to Manisha's golden hat, but also brought a love angle in her personal life as she came closer to Nana Patekar. Nana was already married when he started dating Manisha. Both were madly in love with each other but things started to get sour when Manisha caught Nana cheating on her.

Things were getting out of hand but Manisha forgave him and still wanted to get married to Nana. As Nana Patekar declined to divorce his wife and marry Manisha, the relationship came to a bitter end.

6. Tabu and Akkineni Nagarjuna

Tabu is no doubt one of the most talented actresses of Bollywood, but it comes to love life, she has had a bit of hard luck. Tabu and Akkineni Nagarjuna started dating while he was already married. Though it was a hush-hush relationship and after ten long years of being with the South Indian star, Tabu realised that he is not going to leave his wife.

7. Akshay Kumar and Shilpa Shetty

Once considered as one of the hottest couples of Bollywood on the silver screen, Akshay Kumar and Shilpa Shetty had oozing chemistry in real life as well. Akshay and Shilpa started dating around the time of their first film together and soon became the talk of the town. But slowly the love faded away and the couple split. According to Shilpa, the reason for their breakup was the fact that Akshay was two-timing with her best friend, Twinkle Khanna.

"I never imagined that he could two-time me, and that too all along our relationship," said heartbroken Shilpa in an interview. Adding further that she holds no grudges against Twinkle, she said, "No, I'm not at all upset with her. What's her fault if my man was cheating on me? There is no point blaming any other woman, it was entirely his fault."

8. Raj Kapoor and Nargis

Nargis was not only the leading lady of some of his biggest hits of Raj Kapoor's life, including Aag (1948), Barsaat (1949) and Awara (1951), but also of his heart. Nargis and Raj Kapoor fell in love with each other while Kapoor was already married to Krishna Raj Kapoor. Raj Kapoor was in a relationship with Nargis for almost seven years before they parted ways. Apparently, Nargis wanted to marry Kapoor but Kapoor was not ready to leave his family behind.

9. Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha

Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha's relationship is one of the most talked-about love stories of Bollywood, that has garnered more attention than a movie. Reportedly, their story began on the sets of film Do Anjaane (1976) while Amitabh was already married to Jaya Bachchan. Though the relationship was under the wraps, soon it got media attention and the truth came out.

When Jaya got to know about the relationship she invited Rekha home for dinner and told her candidly that she would never leave her husband whatever may happen. And finally, Rekha realised that their's no future to this relationship. Talking about the same during an interview with Filmfare, Rekha once said, "Why should he have not done it? He did it to protect his image, his family, his children. Why should the public know of my love for him or his love for me? I love him and he loves me- that's it! If he'd reacted that ways towards me in private, I would have been very disappointed."

10. Kareena Kapoor Khan and Shahid Kapoor

Talk about looking adorable together and surely the name of this couple will come to your mind. I can bet that all the millennials must have felt heartbroken when Kareena and Shahid parted ways, unexpectedly. These lovebirds were head over heels for each other just after a week of meeting each other. They spotted together everywhere, and never shied away from in accepting their unconditional love for each other. Kareena Kapoor even turned vegetarian for Shahid and even Karisma Kapoor and other family members accepted Sasha with open arms.

But out of nowhere, one day, the news of their break up started making the headline. It was during the shooting of Jab We Met when the actors called their relationship off. Till today, no one knows the real reason behind the break of this dynamic duo. Some say that Shahid and Amrita Rao closeness caused problems in the relationship while others speculate that Kareena was having an affair with Saif Ali Khan.